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(Last Modified On 9/4/2013)
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(Last Modified On 9/4/2013)
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Species
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Diodia sarmentosa Swartz
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PlaceOfPublication
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Prodr. Veg. Ind. Occ. 30. 1788.
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Note
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TYPE: Jamaica, Swartz, not seen.
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Description
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Herbs or shrubs, often elongate, branching freely, obtusely angular, puberu- lent, the nodes well spaced. Leaves sessile or subsessile, elliptic oblong or ovate oblong, 3-5 cm long, 1.2-1.8 cm wide, acute to deltoid at the apex, often vaguely acuminate, cuneate at the base, the costa immersed above, prominulous beneath, the lateral veins 4-5, strongly arcuate ascending, immersed above, subplane to prominent beneath, the intervenal areas generally smooth beneath, the veinlets evanescent, the margin revolute, stiffly chartaceous, concolorous but appearing bullate above and rough to the touch, scabridulous above and beneath, the hairs above short, white, calcareous punctate, strigose, the hairs beneath more slender and somewhat longer; stipules with sheath turgid, stiff, to 3 mm long, the setas subulate, slender, to 7 mm long, pubescent. Inflorescences in the axils along the length of the branches, the flowers congested, forming a spikelike mass ca. 0.5 cm in diam. Flowers not seen. Fruits oblong or turbinate, 5 mm long, truncate, smooth, glabrate to puberulent, often lightly punctate and bearing a few faint longitudinal lines, the calyx persistent or not, the teeth ovate triangular, 1/2 the length of the valves, the inner face of valve like a drum head, white, stiffly membranous, with a delicate median vein.
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Habit
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Herbs or shrubs
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Distribution
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a common weed in the West Indies, throughout Middle America, and northern South America.
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Note
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It also occurs in the Pacific islands, the Malaya Peninsula and tropical Africa. Steyermark (1972) in his key to Diodia stresses several diagnostic floral characters: "corolla 2-5 mm long . . . style sub- capitate, shortly bilobate . . . calyx lobes linear-lanceolate, 1.0-2.2 mm long."
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Specimen
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CANAL ZONE: Coco Solo, Dwyer & Duke 7919 (COL, MO, UC). BARRO COLORADO ISLAND: Croat 5129, 5276, 5525 (all MO). VERAGUAS: Mouth of Rio Concepci6n, Lewis et al. 2781 (MO).
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