|
(Last Modified On 3/8/2013)
|
|
|
|
(Last Modified On 3/8/2013)
|
|
Genus
|
MALACHRA L.
|
|
PlaceOfPublication
|
Mant. P1. 13. 1767.
|
|
Description
|
Herbs or shrubs, the indumentum frequently hispid. Leaves petiolate, the stipules 2 or 4, the blade undivided to angulate to frequently 3- or 5-palmatilobed or -palmatiparted. Flowers in dense, axillary or terminal, subsessile or pedunculate, capituliform inflorescences, these subtended by large, foliaceous bracts, the bracts expanded or conduplicate, often pellucid-scarious in age at the, base, sometimes reflexed at the apex; epicalyx wanting or the bractlets 9-12; calyx cupuliform, 5-lobed or 5-parted, usually accrescent, the lobes 3-nerved; petals 5, obovate- unguiculate, asymmetrical, rounded to subbilobate at the apex, adnate to the base of the staminal tube, variously colored; staminal tube shorter than the corolla, 5-dentate at the apex, antheriferous above the middle, the filaments 15-30, short, the anthers reniform; ovary of 5 1-ovulate carpels, the ovules ascending; style branches 10, the stigmas capitellate-hirtellous. Mericarps 5, separating from the central columella, trigonous-obovoid, obtuse at the apex, acute at the base, dorsally convex, coriaceous, reticulate-veined, glabrous or not, ventrally dehiscent; seeds obovoid-reniform, glabrous.
|
|
Reference
|
GUrke in 1892 (Engl. Bot. Jahrb. 16: 330-361).
|
|
Distribution
|
The species, with one possible exception, are believed to be of American origin, although several of them are now widely distributed in the Old World tropics as weeds of roadsides and waste ground. Two species occur in Panama.
|
|
Key
|
a. Flowers in terminal heads; bracts expanded, obtuse or rounded at the base; epicalyx of 9-12 bractlets; calyx lobes acute; petals pink; leaf blades usually deeply (often nearly to the base) 3- or 5-palmatiparted .... 1. M. RADIATA aa. Flowers in axillary heads; bracts conduplicate, subcordate to deeply cordate at the base; epicalyx wanting; calyx lobes long-aristate; petals yellow or white; leaf blades undivided to angulate to deeply 3- or 5-lobed - 2. M. ALCEIFOLIA
|
|
Tag
|
|
|
|
Project Name
|
|
Tag
|
|
|
|