Otiophora Zucc.

Genus

Angiosperms > Gentianales > Rubiaceae

Characteristics

Annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs, with erect, straggling or procumbent stems. Leaves very variable, mostly small, linear to round, paired or in whorls of 3 or pseudo-verticillate, sessile or shortly petiolate; stipules connate with the petiole to form a sheath, divided into ± linear segments. Flowers small, hermaphrodite, not dimorphic, paired, arranged in short to long spikes or dense heads or combinations of both. Calyx-tube ovoid or angular; lobes 5, 1–3 foliaceous, much larger than the rest and resembling the leaves of the species concerned, or 1–2 foliaceous, 1–2 smaller foliaceous and the remainder in each case reduced to minute teeth or bristles. Corolla-tube mostly filiform, less often narrowly funnel-shaped; lobes 4–5, ovate to narrowly lanceolate; throat glabrous or in one species densely hairy. Stamens 4–5, well exserted, the filaments glabrous or less often hairy or with hairy projections. Ovary bilocular, the ovules solitary in each locule, erect, attached to the partition very close to the base; style glabrous, filiform, well exserted; stigma bifid (rarely 3-fid), the lobes filiform. Fruit ovate, subglobose or oblong, usually splitting into 2 (rarely 3) cocci one of which is crowned by the persistent foliaceous calyx-lobe or lobes. Seeds black, granulate, subglobose, ovoid or oblong, depressed ventrally, convex dorsally, sometimes slightly keeled mid-dorsally and with a round, oval or linear depression surrounding the hilum corresponding to the shape of the seed.
More
Leaves decussate or occasionally in whorls of 3(4), often seemingly in much larger numbers at nodes (‘pseudo-verticillate’; due to the presence of leafy, much-contracted short shoots); blades variable in size and shape, ± ovate to linear, ± acute to obtuse at apex, membranaceous to coriaceous, with 2–4 usually ± indistinct lateral veins on either side of midvein, glabrous or hairy on margins, veins or surfaces, margins ± flat to slightly revolute; petioles short to subobsolete; stipular sheaths ± cup-shaped, with 3–5(7) ± linear setae or fimbriae on either side, the median often (much) longer than the others.
Ovary bicarpellate and biovulate (but one carpel sometimes smaller and ± reduced or in one species completely sterile), mostly shortly hairy; style glabrous, filiform; stigma bifid, lobes filiform.
Stems erect to prostrate, ± terete to obscurely 4-angled, covered with yellowish to whitish, ± spreading or curled multicellular hairs above, often becoming glabrescent below.
Fruit crowned by persistent calyx lobes, dehiscing into two mericarps, each convex on dorsal side and plane or slighdy concave on ventral side.
Seed ± oblong to ± ovoid, granulate, dorsal side convex, ventral side flat, concave or ± hollowed out, with a median longitudinal ridge.
Stamens exserted, filaments inserted at or near throat, thin, ± erect and stiff, glabrous or hairy near base; anthers oblong.
Bud with limb abruptly expanded into a subcylindrical to ovoid head, or limb and tube not distinct from each other.
Corolla glabrous or throat and tube hairy inside, lobes lanceolate to oblong, ± acute at apex.
Calyx: lobes unequal, 1 (2; very rarely 3) enlarged, foliaceous, other lobes minute, setiform.
Flowers paired, on very short, persistent pedicels, hermaphrodite, protandrous, 4–5-merous.
Inflorescence head-or spike-like, usually elongated when in fruit.
Annual or perennial herbs, subshrubs or sometimes dwarf shrubs.
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Hardiness (USDA) 9-12

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