Medicinal and aromatic plants – industrial profiles

Section 5: 
Subnudae
Chaytor
Typically woody based perennials or subshrubs with pinnatifid (lobed to only half the distance to
midrib) leaves or sometimes leafless. The bracts are distinctly ovate in shape usually with a long
spinescent apex and parallel veining except in 
L. somaliensis
with reticulate veining. Bracts
arranged spirally on the inflorescence axis subtending a single flower in each axil. Calyx 15-
nerved, slightly two-lipped, the lobes subequal without an appendage. Nutlets bear a lateral scar
0.25–0.33
length of the nutlet. The species are morphologically similar and mainly separated
on characters of the indumentum, size and shape of the bract.
A section presently of eight species probably more native to the Arabian Peninsula (Saudi
Arabia, Oman, the Republic of Yemen), Socotra and NE tropical Africa (Somalia) representing
an important centre of diversification in the genus. A more detailed account of the species in this
section has been published by Miller (1985). A few species are in cultivation within specialist
collections and are all tender and some can be difficult to keep.