Asystasia

Manzitto-Tripp, Erin A., Darbyshire, Iain, Daniel, Lucinda A. McDade Thomas F. & Kiel, Carrie A., 2022, Revised classification of Acanthaceae and worldwide dichotomous keys, TAXON 71 (1), pp. 103-153 : 142

Asystasia Blume in Bijdr. Fl. Ned. Ind.: 796. 1826

– Type: Asystasia intrusa (Forssk.) Blume (= A. gangetica (L.) T.Anderson subsp. micrantha (Nees) Ensermu ).

Salpinctium was separated from Asystasia by Edwards & Getliffe Norris (1989) on the basis of having compressed bicolporate pollen and an elongate linear corolla tube. However, Ensermu & al. (1992) noted that bicolporate pollen is also recorded in at least one species of Asystasia in Africa, and pollen is quite variable in the genus. Whilst the corolla tube in Asystasia is usually infundibuliform, the length and width of the tube is variable and in A. vogeliana from West and Central Africa it is long and slender. Salpinctium was not upheld by Ensermu & Vollesen (in Darbyshire & al., 2015) and this decision is followed here. Combinations in Asystasia are already available for two of the three species treated in Salpinctium by Edwards & Getliffe Norris (1989); below we make the new combination for the third species, which is endemic to Eswatini.