Tengia

Etymology: Named in honor of Teng Shi-Wei, leader of a field expedition to Guizhou in 1935 and discoverer of the plant.

Synonyms: -

Infrafamilial position: Didymocarpoid Gesneriaceae - "Advanced Asiatic and Malesian genera" (Weber 2004).

Description: Perennial rosette herbs with vertical rhizome. Leaves elliptic, narrowly elliptic or narrowly obovate, denticulate, upper surface strigose, lower surface grey pubescent along veins. Cymes with long, strigose peduncle, bearing 8-10 flowers. Sepals free to base, linear-lanceolate, ferrugineous strigose. Corolla white, tinged rose pink, corolla actinomorphic, suburceolate, tube longer than limb, slightly constricted at throat, lobes of equal size and triangular shape. Stamens 5, included; filaments inserted at base of corolla tube; anthers globose, thecae divergent, confluent at apex. Nectary annular. Ovary slender cylindrical, densely strigose; style slightly exserted, puberulous; stigma capitate, slightly bilobed. Capsule slender cylindrical, 4-valved.

Chromosome number: Unknown.

Type and only species: Tengia scopulorum Chun (with two varieties: var. scopulorum and var. potiflora (S.Z. He) W.T.Wang, A.L.Weitzman & L.E.Skog)

Distribution: S China (S Guizhou, Yunnan).

Ecology: Growing in shady places on rock cliffs, 300-1200m.

Notes: The plant looks like Petrocodon, but the flowers have 5 fertile stamens and free anthers. Probably closely related with Bournea and Petrocodon which has diandrous flowers (Burtt 1958, 1970).

Selected references: Burtt, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 22: 309-314 (1958), notes; Burtt, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 30: 1-10 (1970), notes; Weitzman & al., Novon 7: 423-435 (1997); Wang et al. in Wu & Raven (eds.), Fl. China 18: 250 (1998) (Chinese sp.).

Bibliography: See Skog, L.E. & J.K. Boggan. 2005. Bibliography of the Gesneriaceae. 2^nd edition: http://persoon.si.edu/Gesneriaceae/Bibliography.

Illustrations:

Tengia scopulorum Chun, type and only species Left: Ying T.S. et al., The endemic genera of seed plants in China, Fig. 126 (1993), with permission. Right: Li Z.Y & Wang Y.Z., Plants of Gesneriaceae in China, Fig. 1.3 (2004); with permission.

last modified: 2007-07-13