Tropicos | Name - !!Adelia L.

!!Adelia L.

Flora Data (Last Modified On 3/18/2013)

Genus	Adelia L.
PlaceOfPublication	Syst. Nat. ed. 10, 1298, 1759, nom. gen. cons.
Synonym	Ricinella Muell.-Arg., Linnaea 34: 153, 1865.
Description	Trees or shrubs; dioecious; twigs often spinescent; indumentum of simple non-glandular trichomes. Leaves alternate, petiolate; stipules inconspicuous; blades pinnately veined, eglandular, entire. Inflorescences axillary, glomerulate; flowers apetalous. Staminate flowers pedicellate; calyx-lobes 4 or 5, valvate; disc annular, thickened and fleshy; stamens 8-17, monadelphous at least at base (often appearing free in bud), the filaments slender, longer than the anthers; pollen grains 3-4-colpate, tectate, colpi operculate; pistillode minute or obsolete. Pistillate flowers long-pedicellate; calyx-lobes mostly 5 or 6, reflexed at anthesis; disc as in d; ovary usually of 3 carpels, pubescent, the ovules 1 per locule, the styles free or united at the base, deeply lacerate. Fruits capsular, dehiscing to leave a persist- ent columella; seeds smooth, ecarunculate, the endosperm fleshy, the embryo with broad thin cotyledons and short radicle.
Habit	Trees or shrubs
Distribution	A neotropical genus of about a dozen species, distributed from Mexico and the Bahamas south to Brazil.
Note	The Caribbean species are rather difficult to distinguish, and it is possible that some reductions will have to be made. Two species have been reported from Panama, but one of these is known only from a single incom- plete collection, and its status is still not clear.