Capraria biflora L.

Slender branched shrub to 2 m tall, the twigs tomentulose to glabrate, often drying whitish, slender, the branching alternate. Leaves alternate, obovate to oblanceolate, apically obtuse, basally cuneate, toothed in the apical 1/2, the teeth mucronulate, not callose, the midvein prominent, with ca. 3 strongly ascending veins on each side, to 7 cm long, 1.5 cm wide; petiole obscure. Inflorescence of 1 or 2 flowers in the leaf axils, numerous; pedicels slender, mostly 1.0-1.5 cm long, glabrate to tomentose. Flowers inconspicuous, the calyx of 5 equal, linear lobes ca. 6 mm long, glabrate or hirsute, sometimes ciliate; corolla white, tubular campanulate, ca. 6-9 mm long, 5-lobed about 1/2 way down, the lobes rounded, subequal within, glabrous outside, 3 lobes bearded at the throat, sometimes glabrous; stamens 4 or 5, alternate with the corolla lobes, the filaments slender, glabrous, ca. 3 mm long, inserted at the base of the corolla tube, 2 slightly longer and basally geniculate, the anthers ca. 1 mm long; ovary obtuse conical, 2-sulcate, glabrous, the style ca. 5 mm long, slightly compressed apically, the stigma a linear region along the narrow sides of the style. Capsule ovoid, glabrous, glandular punctate, septicidally and loculicidally dehiscent, ca. 5 mm long; placenta persistent, conspicuously rugose punctate; seeds yellow, rugose, with a thick, crystalline reticulum, ca. 0.5 mm long.

Moist thickets and swamps, salt flats or in mangrove, abundant in once cleared lands. Open sunny sites in lowland situations at elevations from sea level to 500 metres, occasionally to 1,000 metres in Costa Rica.

The dried leaves and flowers are used for tea.

Can be grown by cuttings or seedlings.