Tropicos | Name - Sicyos L.

Sicyos L.

Flora Data (Last Modified On 8/1/2013)

Genus	Sicyos L.
PlaceOfPublication	Sp. P1. 1013. 1753
Note	TYPE: S. angulata L.
Synonym	Sicyoides P. Miller, Gard. Dict. abr. ed. 4. 1754. TYPE: not designated. Baderoa Bertol. ex Hook., Misc. Bot. 3: 324 1833. TYPE: B. bryoniaefolia Bertol.
Description	Monoecious, tendriled vines; stems 5- to 10-angled or -sulcate. Leaves, peti- olate or the uppermost sessile, subentire or deeply lobate; tendrils 3- to 5- branched. Staminate flowers in racemes, panicles or umbelloid clusters, inflo- rescences long pedunculate; calyx shallowly and broadly campanulate to rotate,
Habit	vines
Description	5-toothed; corolla salverform, the limb 5-lobate, spreading; stamens 3 (rarely 2 or 5), the filaments connate; anthers connate or free, the theca flexuous to nearly straight. Pistillate flowers in sessile clusters or in short pedunculate umbelloid heads, borne in the same axils as the staminate flowers; ovary ovoid to fusiform, setose or aculeate, rarely unarmed, l-celled, the ovule solitary, pendulous, the style subequalling the corolla tube, the stigma broad, 2- to 3-lobate. Fruits dry, ovoid, echinate, spiny, or rarely unarmed; seeds conforming to the locule, the testa reticulate or pitted.
Distribution	Sicyos is a genus of about 25 species, all of the New World, mostly tropical and subtropical, although a few species are temperate.
Note	The following single species was reported from Panama by Cogniaux (1881), but no specimens have been examined. It is, however, to be expected.