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(Last Modified On 8/16/2013)
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(Last Modified On 8/16/2013)
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Genus
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Stemodia L.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Syst. Nat., ed. 10: 1118, 1374. 1759.
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Note
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nomen cons. TYPE: S. maritima L.
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Synonym
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Stemodiacra P. Browne, Civ. Nat. Hist. Jam. 261. 1756. nomen rejic. Based on Scordium maritimum Sloane (1707) = Stemodia maritima L. Phaelypea P. Browne, Civ. Nat. Hist. Jam. 269. 1756. nomen rejic. prop. TYPE: P. erecta; foliis sessilibus . . . P. Browne = Stemodia durantifolia (L.) Sw. ?Matourea Aubl., Hist. P1. Guiane 2: 641, 259, obs. p. 48. 1775. TYPE: M. pratensis Aubl. See Minod (1918: p. 202 in note). ?Dickia Scopoli, Intr. Hist. Nat. 199. 1777. Based on Matourea Aubl. ?Angervillea Necker, Elem. Bot. 1: 351. 1790. Based on Matourea Aubl. Unanuea Ruiz & Pavon, Ic. Fl. Peru. ined. ex Benth. in DC., Prodr. 10: 380. 1846. in syn. Unannea Steud., Nom. Bot. ed. 2. 2: 729. Unanuea Ruiz & Pavon, orth. but. TYPE: U. febrifuga Steud. ?Chodatophyton'2 Minod, Bull. Soc. Bot. Geneve ser. 2. 10: 235. 1918. TYPE: C. ericifolium (Kuntze) Minod. Lendneria'2 Minod, Bull. Soc. Bot. Geneve ser. 2. 10: 240. 1918. TYPE: L. humilis (Solander)Minod = Stemodia verticillata (Mill.) Hassl. ?Verena'2 Minod, Bull. Soc. Bot. Geneve ser. 2. 10: 250. 1918. TYPE: V. hassleriana (Chodat.) Minod. ?Valeria'2 Minod, Bull. Soc. Bot. Geneve ser. 2. 10: 251. 1918. TYPE: V. trifoliata (Link) Minod.
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Description
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Erect or sprawling herbs, the stems mostly pubescent, drying angled, branch- ing freely. Leaves opposite or ternate, ovate or elliptical, mostly serrate, pubes- cent, often glandular punctate, petiolate, or subsessile. Inflorescences 1-3 flowers in the leaf axil, often geminate or ternate, the peduncles slender, ebracteate. Flowers with the calyx 5-lobed to near the base, the lobes narrow, sometimes slightly unequal; corolla white, blue, or purplish, often drying dull orange, tubular to narrowly campanulate, 2-lipped, the upper lip entire, emarginate or 2-lobed, bearded in the throat, the lower lip 3-lobed, the tube often pubescent inside; stamens 4, the filaments mostly inserted in pairs at somewhat different levels, glabrous, 1 pair of anthers sometimes with thecae differing from the others, the thecae held apart by an enlarged globose or armlike connective, parallel or divaricate, sometimes pubescent, a staminode sometimes present; ovary smooth, conical, mostly compressed, the style terete, glabrous, the stigma ligulate, often with 2 minute but distinct lateral appendages; placentas drying to form a narrow peg which does not run to the top of the ovary, the septum, in the apical portion at least, remaining with the capsule walls, in the lower portion sometimes remain- ing with the placenta; dehiscing loculicidally and septicidally '/2 way or all the way down; seeds small, numerous, oblong pyriform, often longitudinally 6-10 sulcate, the surface minutely rugose.
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Habit
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herbs
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Distribution
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Stemodia includes about 35 species in the New World tropics.
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Note
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Several of these are of widespread distribution as ruderal or paludal weeds. The small pedicellate blue or white flowers, narrow corolla tube and deeply divided calyx are useful characters for recognition. The sulcate seeds are useful in recognizing at least two of the Panamanian species. The fact that the upper portion of the placental septum remains with the capsule walls and is not apparent after dehiscence separates it from Lindernia and some other genera.
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Reference
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Minod, M. 1918. Contribution 'a l'etude du genre Stemodia et du groupe des Stemodiees en Amerique. Bull. Soc. Bot. Geneve ser. 2. 10: 155-252.
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Key
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a. Flowers subsessile, the pedicels less than 1 mm long; leaves not noticeably punctate. b. Leaves subsessile, basally auriculate and seeming to clasp the stem; stigmas re- curved and flattened; plants often more than 15 cm tall; basal leaves mostly more than 10 mm long ...... 1. S. durantifolia bb. Leaves conspicuously petiolate, basally cuneate; stigmas erect or slightly bent; plants mostly less than 15 cm tall; leaves mostly less than 10 mm long ...... 5. S. verticillata aa. Flowers long petiolate, the pedicels more than 5 mm long; leaves copiously glandular punctate beneath (under a lens). c. Stems soon glabrescent, leaves glabrous; flowers in open racemes; anthers pubes- cent ...... 4. S. reliquiarum cc. Stems and leaves pubescent; flowers solitary or paired in the leaf axils; anthers glabrous. d. Corolla more than 9 mm long; leaves mostly more than 15 mm long ...... 3. S. peduncularis dd. Corolla less than 9 mm long; leaves mostly less than 15 mm long ...... 2. S. jorullensis
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