(Last Modified On 5/10/2013)
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(Last Modified On 5/10/2013)
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Genus
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Duranta L.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Sp. PI., 637. 1753
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Synonym
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Castorea Mill., Gard. Dict., abridg. ed. 4. 1754. Ellisia P. Browne, Civ. Nat. Hist. Jamaica 262. 1756. Hoffmannia Loefl., Iter Hisp. 194. 1758. Darbyana A. M. Murray, Letters 305, in text. 1856.
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Description
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Glabrous or pubescent, often spinose shrubs. Leaves decussate-opposite or whorled, simple, entire or dentate, deciduous. Inflorescences mostly terminal, rarely axillary or abbreviated, indeterminate, racemiform, elongate. Flowers often showy, mostly pedicellate, each borne in the axil of a small bractlet; calyx gamosepalous, subplicate, tubular or subcampanulate, 5-costate, mostly truncate apically, each rib terminating in a short subulate tooth, the posterior tooth smallest; corolla gamopetalous, hypocrateriform, mostly blue, purple, or white, the tube cylindric, straight or curved above, exserted from the calyx, the limb spreading, regular or oblique, 5-parted, mostly pubescent at the mouth, the lobes rounded, usually unequal, mostly pubescent on the inner surface; stamens 4, didynamous, included, inserted at or above the middle of the corolla-tube; fila- ments very short; anthers sagittate, dorsifixed, erect, with parallel thecae; style terminal, shorter than or equaling the lower stamens, the stigma obliquely sub- capitate, very shortly and unequally 4-lobed; ovary more or less completely 8- celled, composed of 4, 2-celled carpels, each cell 1-ovulate; fruiting-calyx accres- cent, flask-shaped, usually surpassing and closely appressed to the fruit, but not coalesced with it, usually coarctate-rostrate at the apex. Fruit drupaceous, mostly completely included in the mature calyx, the exocarp fleshy, the endocarp hard; pyrenes 4, each 2-celled and 2-seeded.
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Habit
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shrubs
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Distribution
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A genus of 50 species and infraspecific entities, widespread in subtropical and tropical America, ranging from Florida and Bermuda through the West Indies, Mexico, and Central America to Argentina. One species is doubtfully native in Thailand. The genus is widely cultivated and frequently naturalized in tropical parts of the Old World.
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Key
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a. Leaf-blades pubescent beneath, thick-textured; branchlets densely tomentose ...... 1. D. costaricensis aa. Leaf-blades glabrate beneath, mostly thin-textured; branchlets usually glabrate. b. Corolla blue to lilac, violet, or purple. c. Mature leaf-blades mostly 1.5-5 cm long ...... 2. D. repens cc. Mature leaf-blades mostly less than 1.5 cm long -2a. D. repens var. microphylla bb. Corolla white ...... 2b. D. repens var. alba
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