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(Last Modified On 5/15/2013)
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(Last Modified On 5/15/2013)
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Genus
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Browallia L.
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PlaceOfPublication
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Sp. PI. 631. 1753
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Note
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TYPE: Browallia americana L.
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Synonym
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Brouvalea Adans., Fam. 2: 211. 1763.
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Description
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Branched, unarmed herbs to 70 cm tall; stems terete, glabrous or pubescent, the hairs simple, sometimes glandular and viscid. Leaves ovate, to 6 cm long, the margins mostly entire; petioles slender, slightly winged, sometimes reduced; minor leaves present or not. Flowers solitary, axillary, the subtending leaves some- times reduced, the pedicels short but becoming longer in fruit, deciduous at the base; calyx tubular-campanulate with simple or glandular hairs, drying with prominent longitudinal veins, lobed less than /3 the way down, the lobes 4 or 5, This content downloaded from 192.104.39.2 on Tue, 14 May 2013 16:07:58 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions1973] D'ARCY-FLORA OF PANAMA (Family 170. Solanaceae) 577 deltoid to lanceolate, sometimes rounded, becoming larger in fruit, exceeding but not enveloping the capsule, the tube sometimes inflated, strongly angled; co- rolla salverform, zygomorphic with a bulbous enlargement at the top of the green- ish tube, the limb large or small, the mouth very small; stamens 4, sometimes with a staminode or rarely a fifth fertile anther, didynamous, inserted just above and below the expansion in the corolla tube, the upper pair with flattened, curved, pilose filaments which close the mouth of the tube, their anthers each with one obsolete theca, the lower pair with basally geniculate filaments and smaller, 2-thecate anthers; the disc obsolete; ovary subsessile, glabrous or pubescent, 2-loculed, the ovules many on a large placenta, stigma elaborately expanded into a furrowed wafer compressed between the anthers, stigmatic on the distal rim. Fruit an erect 2-valved, coriaceous or chartaceous, many seeded, septicidally short-dehiscent capsule; seeds minute, prismatic, foveate; embryo straight or slightly curved, cotyledons ovate on a broad radicle. Chromosomes n 22, 44 (24).
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Habit
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herbs
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Note
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Browallia is closely related to a number of species now considered to belong to other genera, e.g. Leptoglossis, Brunfelsia, Schwenckia and Salpiglossis (sensu lato), and further study of these groups may discover species which belong in Browallia. In all of these genera except Salpiglossis (sensu stricto), the mouth of corolla is sealed by various alterations of anther, filament, or stigma. In Browallia, the mouth is sealed by two flattened, pilose filaments which arch over the anthers and stigma, and in age, the stigma may force its way past the filaments. In the related species examined, the filaments, although they may be somewhat curved and flattened, do not take effective part in sealing of the corolla mouth. Upon study of the full range of mechanisms for corolla closure, it may be decided that members now in other genera which have expanded stigmas, reduced anthers and thecae, and also curved filaments, but which close the corolla mouth with the side of an anther, the base of the stigma or other part, are really best considered congeneric with Browallia. Browallia is further distinct from Brunfelsia in its herbaceous rather than woody habit.
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Distribution
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Browallia is a small genus native to Central America and tropical South Amer- ica which has been widely dispersed through the influence of post-Colombian man.
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Note
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The two species treated here are widely grown for ornament in other parts of the world. One of them is naturalized in the Antilles. Both species are known in both colored and white forms, and while they are usually easily distinguishable by their flower size, the two species are also quite distinct in other characters. The considerable differences between the two species argues for placing them in sep- arate, although monotypic, sections of the genus. In all, twenty-six species have been described in the genus, but study of the illustrations and type material upon which they are based suggests that most should be reduced to but two species of Browallia,5 the remainder belonging to genera in other families. In spite of the redundancy of names for the two species native to Panama, there are specimens in a number of herbaria which may be "good," undescribed species of Browallia. The genus takes its name from John Browal, 1707-55, magistrate and botanical writer of Upsalla, later Bishop of Abo (Finland), friend of Linnaeus.
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Key
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a. Corolla large, the tube mostly over 3 cm, the limb mostly over 5 cm across, the lobes pointed, the eye not sharply defined; calyx tube inflated; ovary glabrous on top; staminode or fifth stamen sometimes present; tetraploid species; rare in the wild in Panama (B. sect. Leiogyne) ...... 2. B. speciosa aa. Corolla small, the tube mostly less than 3 cm, the limb mostly less than 2 cm across, the lobes rounded or emarginate, the eye sharply defined; calyx tube not inflated; ovary pubescent on top; staminode and fifth stamen wanting; diploid species; common in the wild in Panama (A. sect. Browallia) ...... 1. B. americana
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