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(Last Modified On 1/28/2013)
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(Last Modified On 1/28/2013)
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Genus
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PHILOXERUS R. Br.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Prodr. 416. 1810.
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Synonym
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Caraxeron Vaill. in Raf. Fl. Tell. 3:38. 1837. Blutaparan Raf. New Fl. 4:45. 1838.
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Description
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Flowers perfect, bracteate and bibracteolate, subsessile in spikes. Sepals 5, discrete or basally slightly connate, hypogynous, the outer 3 flat and broader, the inner 2 conduplicate and narrower. Stamens 5, the filaments flattened and united below to form a very shallow tube; pseudostaminodia absent; anthers 2-locellate, introrse, medially attached. Ovary ovoid to orbiculate, 1-locular, 1-ovulate; ovules on elongate flattened funicles; stigmata 2, on 1 short style, often erect at anthesis and recurving in fruit. Fruit an orbiculate indehiscent utricle; seeds cochleate-orbiculate, reddish brown. Prostrate or decumbent glabrous to pubes- cent herbaceous perennials. Leaves opposite, entire, often succulent, the sessile bases usually amplexicaul. Inflorescences of terminal and axillary pedunculate congested spikes or glomes often subtended by slightly reduced foliar leaves.
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Distribution
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This small genus of two or three species seems to be largely restricted to beaches and salt flats in tropical America and west Africa.
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Note
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Schinz (in Engler & Prantl, Pflanzenf. 16c:83. 1934) has suggested that many Australian species formerly referred to this genus perhaps belong to Gomphrena. Only one species reaches North America.
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