5018.000 Thespesia Sol. ex Corrêa

Trees or shrubs with stems and leaves scaly or stellate-hairy. Leaves petiolate; lamina ovate to triangular or suborbicular, entire or less often palmately 3-lobed, with an elongated nectary on the midrib beneath. Pedicels with nectaries lacking or inconspicuous. Epicalyx of 3-17 linear to lanceolate bracteoles. Calyx broadly cup-shaped, entire or with 5 teeth. Corolla usually yellow, less often white or deep rose, usually with a red centre. Capsule (3-) 5-locular, usually indehiscent, woody or sometimes fleshy. Seeds 1 per loculus, relatively large (7–16 mm long), glabrous to densely woolly.

Derivation of name: from the Greek thespesios, meaning divine, wondrous, or excellent, alluding to its planting in sacred groves and use for carving religious sculpture.

Worldwide: 14 species in the Old Word tropics and subtropics and Australia.

Botswana: 1 taxon.