Anna
Anna submontana Pellegr., type species (1-4)
A. ophiorhizoides (Hemsl.) B.L.Burtt (5-7)
Wang & al. (1999), Fl. reipubl. Sin. 69, Fig. 134; with permission of Science Press, Beijing
Anna rubidiflora S.Z.He, F.Wen & Y.G.Wei
Habit (flowering plant) and flower details
Wei et al. (2013) Fig. 1. Drawing: S.Q.He
Anna rubidiflora S.Z.He, F.Wen & Y.G.Wei
Habitat (type locality), flowering plant and flower details
Wei et al. (2013), Fig. 2. Photos: photographer unknown (S.Z.He?)
Anna submontana Pellegr., type species
Photo: M.Möller (no. MMO 01-85), China, Yunnan, Hekou county, Nanxi
Anna
Full name and orig. publication: Anna Pellegr., Bull. Soc. Bot. France 77: 46 (20 May 1930).
Etymology: The name is of Hebrew origin, meaning graceful, gracious, charming, and was the name of the mother of Virgin Mary. It is a common German female first name (Engl. Ann, French Anne). Unfortunately, the protologue does not tell us whether Pellegrin wanted to refer to the charming appearance of the plant or flowers or whether he wanted to commemorate a woman named Anna.
Synonym: Tumidinodus H.W.Li (1982).
Infrafamilial position: Didymocarpoideae-Trichosporeae-Didymocarpinae (Weber et al. 2013).
Description: Terrestrial subshrubs. Stem with sometimes angled branches. Leaves opposite, those of a pair unequal, petiolate, lamina ovate, apex acute, base cuneate, margin entire or serrate. Cymes axillary, several-flowered, lax. Sepals free to base, equal. Corolla broad tubular, white or yellowish; tube with a ventral pouch near the limb, limb bilabiate, upper lip 2-lobed, shorter than 3-lobed lower lip, lobes obtuse or rounded. Stamens 4, inserted near the middle of corolla tube, included; anthers basifixed, coherent in pairs, thecae slightly divaricate, confluent at apex, dehiscing longicidally; staminode present. Nectary ring-like. Ovary linear, with parietal placentae; stigma disc-like, undivided. Capsule straight, linear, much longer than the calyx, loculicidally dehiscent. Seeds with a subulate appendage at each end.
Chromosome number: 2n = 34.
Species number: 4.
Species names: A. mollifolia (W.T.Wang) W.T.Wang & K.Y.Pan, A. ophiorhizoides (Hemsl.) B.L.Burtt & R.A.Davidson, A. rubidiflora S.Z.He, F.Wen & Y.G.Wei, A. submontana Pellegr.
Type species: Anna submontana Pellegr.
Distribution: China (Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Sichuan), N Vietnam.
Ecology: Terrestrial plants growing in forests, details scarcely known.
Notes: The seed apex is drawn out to a point and thus the seeds have some superficial similarity with those of Trichosporeae (in the traditional sense, comprising Aeschynanthus, Agalmya, Loxostigma, and Lysionotus), to which tribe Wang & Pan (l. c.), and Wang & al. (1990, 1998) referred the genus. It is, however, not present as a distinct appendage and is brown. Burtt (1963), therefore, placed the genus in tribe Didymocarpeae. In the classification of Weber et al. (2013) Anna – and the genera just mentioned – are in tribe Trichosporeae subtribe Didymocarpinae.
Selected references: Burtt & Davidson, Notes Roy. Bot. Gard. Edinburgh 21: 232 (1955), new sp.; Wang & Pan, Bull. Bot. Research, Harbin, 2(2): 144 (1982), reg. rev. (China); Wang et al. in Wu & Raven (eds.), Fl. China 18: 287-289 (1998) (Chinese spp.); Wei et al., Pl. Ecol. Evol. 146(2): 203–211 (2013), new sp.
Tax. details, cytology, and bibliography: Gesneriaceae Resource Centre (GRC). Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.
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