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(Last Modified On 3/20/2013)
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(Last Modified On 3/20/2013)
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Genus
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Acidoton Sw.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Prodr. 84, 1788
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Reference
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Fl. Ind. Occ. 954, 1800, nom. gen. cons.
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Synonym
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Gitara Pax & Hoffm., Pflanzenreich 85 (IV, 147, XVII): 187, 1924.
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Description
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Shrubs or small trees; monoecious or dioecious. Leaves alternate, petiolate, stipulate; blades pinnately veined, entire or dentate. Inflorescences axillary clusters or racemes; bracts eglandular, subtending solitary flowers. Staminate flowers pedicellate or subsessile; calyx-lobes 3-5, valvate; petals absent; disc absent (or confounded with the fleshy receptacle); stamens ca 24-60, the filaments free, glabrous, the anthers extrorse, dehiscing longitudinally, the anther-connective with an apical tuft of stinging hairs; pollen grains ellipsoid, tectate, inaperturate. Pistil- late flowers pedicellate; calyx-lobes 5-6, narrow, ? imbricate; petals and disc absent; ovary of 3 carpels, pubescent (at least in part) with stinging hairs, the ovules 1 per locule, the styles connate below, spreading above, undivided, strongly papillose. Fruits capsular, valves ? armed with stinging hairs; seeds rounded, ecarunculate.
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Habit
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Shrubs trees
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Distribution
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A small Caribbean genus of six species (Jamaica, Hispaniola, Central America, Venezuela).
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Note
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The genus is very closely related to Tragia, but differs in its habit and more numerous stamens with the anther-connective terminating in a tuft of stinging hairs.
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