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(Last Modified On 8/14/2013)
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(Last Modified On 8/14/2013)
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Species
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Benjaminia reflexa (Benth.) D'Arcy
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Synonym
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Herpestis reflexa Benth. in DC., Prodr. 10: 399. 1846. LECTOTYPE: Brasil, Gardner 4347 (dupla MO). Benjaminia utriculariaeformis Mart., Fl. Bras. 10: 256. 1847. TYPE: Brasil, Goyas, Gardner 4347 (B, not seen; isotype MO). Quinquelobus utriculariaeoides Benj., Linnaea 20: 316. 1847. = Benjaminia utriculariformis Benj. orth. mut. cf. Benjamin, Linnaea 20: Bericht. 1. 1847. Monniera reflexa (Benth.) Kuntze, Rev. Gen. P1. 2: 463. 1891. Bacopa reflexa (Benth.) Edwall, Bol. Commiss. Geogr. Estado Sao Paulo 13: 176. 1897. Naiadothrix longipes Pennell, Mem. Torrey Bot. Club 16: 105. 1920. Naiadothrix reflexa (Benth.) Pennell, Mem. Torrey Bot. Club 16: 106. 1920. Bacopa longipes (Pennell) Standley, Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. Ser. 11: 141. 1932. Bacopa naias, Standley, Field Mus. Nat. Hist., Bot. Ser. 11: 141. 1932. TYPE: Belize, Schipp 610 (F, holotype, not seen; isotype MO).
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Description
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Rooted, submerged aquatic herbs; stems often branching, sometimes ridged, the nodes sometimes slightly jointed, glabrate or pubescent with weak, white, several-celled hairs, glandular punctate. Leaves 6-8 verticellate, 2-35 mm long, imparipinnately dissected, the 5-20 segments on each side flat, filiform, 0.5-12.0 mm long; petiole wanting or short, the leaf bases sometimes united into a rudi- mentary column. Inflorescence of solitary flowers in the leaf axils, usually only 1 per node, pedicels 0.5-18.0 mm long, becoming 10-25 mm long and stouter in fruit, holding flower ?and fruit above the water surface, ebracteate. Flowers 2-5 mm long in bud, the calyx mostly 2-5 mm long, 5-lobed to near the base, the lobes narrow, costate and cucullate, apically ciliolate, punctate, becoming more strongly angled and longer in fruit; corolla bluish or mauve with a yellow eye, lined, exserted ca. 5 mm from the calyx, 2-lipped, the lobes rounded, ?entire; stamens 4, the anthers versatile, all alike, and the thecae all alike, the filament apically narrowed and the connective not evidently enlarged; style straight, the stigma flattened and curved. Capsule ovoid, ca. 2.5 mm long, slightly shorter than the calyx, the pericarp membranous, perhaps not regularly dehiscent, the style persistent; seeds numerous, 0.6 mm long, tan or yellowish, longitudinally reticulate.
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Habit
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herbs
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Note
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This species is conspicuously distinct from all other Panamanian Scrophularia- ceae in its finely dissected leaves which closely resemble those of Cabomba (Nymphaeaceae). In Cabomba, the leaves are doubly compound, the pinnate leaflets arising from stalked verticels while in Benjaminia reflexa the verticels are sessile on the stems or nearly so. Benjaminia reflexa is superficially similar to Bacopa myriophylloides (Benth.) Pennell of South America. In that species, the leaves are not pinnate but digitate, and features of the flower are quite different, notably lacking sterile tufts of filaments around the ovary. Little material of Benjaminia has accumulated in herbaria and the above synonymy is proposed with hesitation. The plants from Belize are much more robust and have more distinctly angled stems than other material seen, and Panamanian plants are more pubescent than those from elsewhere. Capsules of Cuban plants are apically flat or emarginate while those from Brasil are subacute. The capsules of the Cuban plants are also glandular while on Brasilian plants the glands are not evident. In spite of this variation, it is here assumed that all material seen is of one species, wide-ranging geographically and differing greatly in age and perhaps growing conditions. Contrary to Pennell, none of the plants is glabrous. The above description was prepared from a range of material at hand and not from Panamanian specimens only.
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Specimen
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PANAMA: Aquatic pool in savanna, road to Chepo, Hunter & Steyermark 16715 (PH), 16718 (NY, PH). Laguna de Portala near Chepo, 50 m, Pittier 4604 (US).
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