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(Last Modified On 8/1/2013)
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(Last Modified On 8/1/2013)
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Genus
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Polyclathra Bertol.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Novi Comment. Acad. Sci. Inst. Bononiensis 4: 438. 1840.
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Note
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TYPE: P. cucumerina Bertol.
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Synonym
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Pittiera Cogn. in Th. Durand & Pittier, Bull. Soc. Bot. BeIg. 30: 271. 1892. TYPE: P. longi- pedunculata Cogn. Roseanthus Cogn., Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 3: 578. 1896. TYPE: R. albiflorus Cogn.
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Description
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Monoecious tendriled vines; stems 5- to 10-sulcate. Leaves petiolate, simple or foliolate; tendrils mostly 4-branched. Staminate flowers solitary in the axils of the leaves, long pedunculate; calyx funnelform or narrowly campanulate, 5- lobate; corolla white, 5-lobate, spreading; stamens 3, inserted on the calyx tube wall, the filaments free, slender, the anthers longitudinally triplicate, connate, one anther unilocular, the other anthers bilocular. Pistillate flowers solitary, aris- ing from separate or the same axils as the staminate flowers, short pedunculate; calyx as in the staminate flowers, but shorter; corolla as in the staminate flowers; ovary ellipsoid to globose, 3-carpellate, the styles solitary, slender, the stigmas 3, bilobate. Fruit ellipsoidal or oblong, the dry, thin pericarp splitting from the apex and revealing tiers of horizontal cavities, each containing a single seed; seeds numerous, dull brown, horizontal, broadly ovate, compressed, slightly roughened.
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Habit
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vines
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Distribution
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Mexico and Central Amer- ica.
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Note
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Jeffrey (1971) was the first to consider Roseanthus and Pittiera as conge- neric with Polyclathra and recognized a possible nine species although he indi- cated that this number perhaps should be greatly reduced. Dieterle (1976) considered the genus to consist of a single polymorphic species which is the view taken here.
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Reference
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Dieterle, J. V. A. 1976. Cucurbitaceae in Flora of Guatemala, Fieldiana, Bot- any 24(11): 306-395. Jeffrey, C. 1971. Further notes on Cucurbitaceae. II. The tribe Cucurbiteae. Kew Bull. 25: 191-236.
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