Coleus esculentus var. esculentus, N. E. Br.

Meerts, Pierre J. & Paton, Alan J., 2024, The genus Coleus (Lamiaceae) in Central Africa (Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Burundi), with the description of 15 new species, PhytoKeys 246, pp. 71-178 : 71-178

Coleus esculentus var. esculentus

Description.

Paton et al. (2009: 291), Paton et al. (2013: 240), as Plectranthus esculentus N. E. Br.

Distribution.

Tropical and South Africa.

Habitat and ecology.

Degraded miombo woodland, fallow fields, savannah, 300–2285 m elev.

Additional specimens.

DR. Congo, Bas-Congo, Kinwanda, près de Tumba Mani, 23 Aug 1902, A. Cabra & F. L. Michel 38 ( BR); Kisantu, Feb 1913, J. Gillet s. n. ( BR); Sundi Lutete, 10 Aug 1967, I. Persson 124 ( BR); Kasaï, Kwango, Kahemba, 24 Jul 1955, R. Devred 2333 ( BR); Env. Luluabourg [Kananga], 1910, A. Sparrano 27 ( BR); Lacs Edouard et Kivu, Kaziba, 26 Sep 1952, J. F. Laurent 574 ( BR); Haut-Katanga, Marungu, Kalewe, Apr 1944, L. Dubois 1200 ( BR); 30 km W de Mutshatsha, 28 Aug 1956, P. Duvigneaud & J. Timperman 2530 Co 1 ( BRLU); Marungu, Kasiki, Nov 1945, P. Quarré 7363 ( BR); Entre Masombwe et Lusinga, 21 Sep 1948, W. Robyns 3643 ( BR); Lubumbashi, 1937, Salésiens 466 ( BR, WAG). Burundi, Gitega, Bufundu, A. Becquet 766 ( BR); Kumuyange, 26 Sep 1971, J. Lewalle 6132 ( BR); Ruvironza, 15 Jul 1958, G. Michel 5540 ( BR); Mosso, Ruyigi, abords de Kinyinya, 13 Aug 1951, G. Michel & J. Reed 85 ( BR).

Notes.

1. Occasionally cultivated for its edible tubers; in Marungu known as “ mizumbu ” and, in Burundi, as “ impombo ” (kinyarwanda) or “ inumbu ” (kirundi).

2. Var. esculentus is quite variable in the length of the pedicel and the internodes of the thyrse; some specimens are more or less intermediate between var. esculentus and var. densus (e. g. P. Quarré 7085 (BR), J. Rammeloo 4690 [BR]).