Nertera Banks ex Gaertn.

Genus

Angiosperms > Gentianales > Rubiaceae

Characteristics

Herbs, perennial, unarmed, sometimes fetid when bruised, often creeping and rooting at nodes. Raphides present. Leaves opposite, without domatia, marginally usually thickened and sometimes crisped; stipules persistent, interpetiolar and fused to petioles, triangular or bidentate. Inflorescences terminal and/or pseudoaxillary, 1-flowered, sessile or shortly pedunculate, ebracteate or sometimes with small involucre of bracts fused in pairs (i.e., calyculate) or of reduced stipules and leaves. Flowers bisexual, homostylous. Calyx limb truncate, 4-lobed, or reduced. Corolla greenish white, white, or pink, funnelform, glabrous inside; lobes 5, valvate in bud. Stamens 4, inserted near base of corolla tube, exserted; filaments developed; anthers basifixed. Ovary 2-or 4-celled, ovules 1 in each cell on axile placentas; stigmas 2 or 4, linear, exserted. Fruit orange, red, or black, drupaceous, ovoid or globose, fleshy, with calyx limb persistent; pyrenes 2 or 4, 1-celled, each with 1 seed, plano-convex, cartilaginous; seeds medium-sized, ellipsoid to plano-convex; testa membranous; endosperm scanty; cotyledons leaflike; hypocotyl hypogenous.
More
Fls 4-5-merous, perfect, solitary, axillary or terminal, sessile or very shortly stalked. Calyx truncate, sts very obscurely toothed; corolla-tube funnelform, lobes valvate; Stamens inserted at base of tube; filaments filiform, far-exserted; anthers large, us. pend.; styles 2, filiform, hairy. Ovary 2-celled, ovules 1 per cell; drupe fleshy, rarely dry; pyrenes 2. Slender, creeping, branching, slightly foetid perennial herbs, rooting at nodes, with opp. lvs and small interpetiolar stipules. Genus of some 15 spp., of Australia, N.Z., Malaya, Central and South America, Tristan d'Acunha.
minute, axillary, sessile, usually perfect; calyx truncate or tubular, the teeth 4-5; corolla tubular or funnel shaped, glabrous within, the lobes 4, valvate; stamens 4, attached basally to the corolla, the anthers apiculate, exserted; ovary 2-celled, the style long exserted, hairy, the ovules solitary, erect from the base of the cell. Fruits rotund, succulent, red, with 2 cartilaginous nutlets.
Creeping, perennial herbs, often forming mats. Leaves small, often subsessile; stipules minute, adnate to the petioles, the sheath entire or with 2 teeth. Flowers
Life form perennial
Growth form herb
Growth support -
Foliage retention -
Sexuality hermaphrodite
Pollination -
Spread -
Mature width (meter) -
Mature height (meter) -
Root system creeping-root
Rooting depth (meter) -
Root diameter (meter) -
Flower color -
Blooming months -
Fruit color
Fruiting months -
Nitrogen fixer -
Photosynthetic pathway -

Environment

Light -
Soil humidity -
Soil texture -
Soil acidity -
Soil nutriment -
Hardiness (USDA) 8-12

Usage

Uses -
Edible -
Therapeutic use -
Human toxicity -
Animal toxicity -

Cultivation

Mode -
Germination duration (days) 30 - 90
Germination temperacture (C°) 18 - 21
Germination luminosity dark
Germination treatment -
Minimum temperature (C°) -
Optimum temperature (C°) -
Size -
Vigor -
Productivity -