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short (fascicled), or simple (racemose), rarely consisting of a solitary flower on the stem, ebracteate and ebracteolate, pedicels often with articulation above the base perhaps indicating ancestral bracteoles. Flowers mostly perfect, rarely dioeceous or monoeceous, not uncommonly with developmental polygamy, (4-) 5(-6)-merous, sometimes zygomorphic; calyx mostly manifestly lobed, each lobe vascularized by a trace distinct from the base of the pedicel, mostly splitting at the sinuses during egress of flower or fruit, sometimes accrescent in fruit and loosely or tightly investing the berry; corolla rotate with a very short tube, deeply or shallowly lobed; stamens equal or not, the filaments inserted on the corolla tube, often partially connate, rarely wanting, sometimes pubescent, the anthers basifixed or nearly so, opening by 2 terminal pores and sometimes ultimately longitudinally, dehiscence introrse or extrorse, rarely pubescent, mostly connivant into a tube but rarely connate, the connective small; ovary 2-loculed with pro-liferation of the placenta, the ovules many, the style (pistillate) equalling or ex-ceeding the anthers, rarely persistent, the stigma small, 2-4-lobed. Fruit a juicy, mucilaginous, fleshy, woody or dry berry, sometimes partly hollow, mostly falling from the receptacle, mostly flattened but sometimes prismatic or almost spheroidal, the embryo circinnate around the periphery of the seed, the endosperm fleshy.
Annual or perennial herbs, shrubs or small trees, sometimes trailing or climbing, sometimes armed with straight or curved prickles, often foetid when bruised, generally hairy, the hairs simple, stellate, glandular, or sometimes much-branched with a central axis. Lvs simple or compound, nearly always alternate, ± petiolate. Infls terminal or apparently axillary, cymose or umbellate, 2-many-flowered (fls rarely solitary), often extra-axillary, sometimes lf-opposed. Calyx (4)-5-(10)-toothed, generally campanulate, persistent and often accrescent. Corolla 5-lobed, rotate or shallowly campanulate, plicate in bud, usually white to blue or purple, sometimes cream or yellow; limb often patent and star-shaped, the lobes eventually reflexing. Stamens 5, inserted on throat of corolla tube, usually exserted; anthers coherent and forming a conspicuous yellow cone around the style, dehiscing by apical pores or slits or longitudinal slits. Ovary 2-celled (to 6 in cultivated plants); stigma capitate or 2-fid. Fr. a berry, generally globose, succulent or rather leathery; stone cells (sclerotic granules) sometimes present. Seeds many, compressed, of moderate size, often reticulately pitted.
Herbs, shrubs, climbers, or small trees, sometimes prickly; hairs simple, branched, or stellate, sometimes glandular. Leaves solitary or paired, simple or pinnately compound, mostly petiolate; leaf blade entire, dentate, lobed, or parted. Inflorescences axillary, extra-axillary, or leaf opposed, mostly racemose, paniclulate, umbellate, fasciculate, or solitary flowers, without bracts; peduncle branched or not, sometimes obsolete. Flowers bisexual or andromonoecious, mostly actinomorphic, often 5-merous. Calyx mostly lobed partway and splitting further at sinuses. Corolla mostly rotate or stellate. Stamens inserted high in corolla tube; anthers often connivent or connate around style, dehiscing by apical pores, often later splitting longitudinally. Ovary 2-5-locular, with enlarged placentae; ovules axile, numerous. Stigma small. Fruiting calyx persistent, sometimes enlarged and enclosing berry. Berries mostly juicy. Seeds discoid or lenticular; embryo strongly curved.
Herbs, shrubs, trees, lianas, rarely epiphytic or paludal, armed or not, glabrous or pubescent with a variety of simple, branched, stellate, peltate hairs,4 these often glandular, sometimes accompanied by bristles; some species procumbent or root-climbing, sarmentose, or tuber-bearing. Leaves simple or compound, entire, toothed or variously lobed, sometimes armed; petiolate or sessile, some-times clasping the stem; often in a paired arrangement with one smaller (minor) and the other larger (major), and minor leaves sometimes present at dichotomies of the stem; exstipulate, but the minor leaves sometimes pseudostipular. In-florescence terminal, axillary, opposite the leaves or lateral on the stem, often positioned by concaulescence with the stem, consisting of terminal cincinni which are sometimes curling (scorpioid), elongate (racemose) or contracted (um-bellate) and inserted on a peduncle which may be branched (paniculate), very
Sprawling, aromatic, perennial herbs, pubescent with glandular and non-glandular simple hairs. Leaves alternate, petiolate, pinnately lobed or pinnate (often irregularly); leaflets entire or lobed, sessile or petiolate. Inflorescence racemose or cymose, usually lateral. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic; pedicels articulate above middle. Calyx deeply 5–lobed, the lobes lanceolate. Corolla stellate, yellow, 5–lobed, the lobes valvate in bud. Stamens 5, equal in height, inserted on throat of corolla tube; anthers bilocular, basifixed, each with apical, sterile, conical appendage, cohering to form a cone around style, dehiscing inwards by longitudinal slits. Ovary bilocular; stigma capitate. Fruit a berry. Seeds elliptic.
Trees, shrubs, or (not in Australia) vines, pubescent with dendritic or simple and glandular hairs. Leaves alternate, simple or compound, entire or lobed, petiolate. Inflorescence raceme-or cyme-like, axillary or in branch forks. Flowers bisexual, actinomorphic. Calyx campanulate, 5–lobed. Corolla stellate, pink to purple; limb mostly deeply lobed, the lobes valvate in bud. Stamens equal in height, inserted near base of corolla-tube; filaments free or connate, produced into elaborate connectives at back of anthers; anthers bilocular, dehiscing by apical pores sometimes extending to longitudinal slits. Ovary bilocular; stigma terminal. Fruit a berry. Seeds flattened.
Fruit a berry, pale green, yellow to red, brown to purple, ± black or ivory-white, usually globose, sometimes ovoid, rarely conical or oblong, when ripe juicy, mucilaginous, fleshy, papery or bony, sometimes partially hollow, rarely dry and sub-capsular, usually 2-locular with slightly enlarged placental area in the centre of the septum, from it radiating the seeds into the usually pulp-filled locules between the septum and the pericarp, becoming unilocular by reduction of the septum, more rarely 3–4-locular by proliferation of it, sometimes aromatic, mostly falling from the receptacle, with or without sclerotic granules.
Stamens equal to unequal, ± as long as the corolla lobes, usually exserted; filaments often short, glabrous or pubescent, inserted on the corolla tube at varying heights, often partially connate or united at the base forming a ring or rarely wanting; anthers usually all fertile, rarely rudimentary, short and thick to elongate and tapered, occasionally prolonged into a sterile appendage, rarely pubescent, usually connivent around the style, rarely connate, attached at the base or shortly above, dehiscing by terminal pores, these sometimes developing into short or long slits; connective sometimes enlarged.
Cymes developmentally terminal but quickly overtopped by the lateral shoot which is often fused with the basal part of the peduncle (concaulescent) so the cyme becomes lateral and extra-axillary, less often axillary or leaf-opposed, variously developed, consisting of terminal cincinni, sometimes curled (scorpioid), elongate (racemiform) or contracted (umbelliform), with a peduncle, sometimes dichotomously branched (paniculiform or corymbiform) or unbranched (racemiform), or ± sessile (fascicled), few–many-flowered, rarely 1-flowered, ebracteate and ebracteolate.
Ovary usually ± globose, basically 2-locular with an expanded axile placenta, sometimes elaborated and developing 1–2 secondary ("false") septa between its principal lobes, appearing 3–4-locular, or dividing into branches filling the locules, the ovules hemicampylotropous, numerous; style simple, equalling or exceeding the anthers, terete, erect or declinate and somewhat sigmoid in shape and then with the stigmatic tip often bent or almost hooked, rarely persistent; stigma terminal, capitate, small or slightly elongate, obscurely 2–4-lobed to markedly 2-fid.
Fls solitary or in cymes or umbels; calyx 5-10-lobed. Corolla white, purple or blue, rotate, 5-10-lobed. Stamens inserted near throat of corolla-tube, filaments short; anthers long, exserted, connivent or cohering in a cone, dehiscing by apical pores. Ovary 2-loculed, sts appearing 3-4-loculed by ingrowth of subsidiary partitions. Fr. a berry with ∞ seeds. Herbs, shrubs, lianes or small trees with alt. or sts paired lvs. Widespread genus of some 1500 spp., but mainly tropical.
Cor rotate or broadly campanulate; filaments very short; anthers oblong to lanceolate or linear, connivent or connate around the style, opening (in our spp.) by terminal pores or short terminal clefts; fr a many-seeded berry, the seeds mostly wingless; herbs, shrubs, or small trees, the infls in our spp. generally arising opposite or between the lvs. Perhaps 1500 spp., widespread, but best developed in trop. Amer. All our spp. bloom in summer, often continuing until the fall.
Flowers actinomorphic, sometimes slightly zygomorphic, (4)5(6)-merous, bisexual or the lower ones bisexual and the upper ones in the same inflorescence functionally male (female sterile by reduction of the ovary), elsewhere occasionally all unisexual; pedicels often articulated above the base to the midpoint (perhaps indicating ancestral bracteoles), rarely at the base, leaving small scars on the axes when shed.
Corolla most often flushed purple, violet or blue, sometimes mauve or white, more rarely yellow, shortly tubular to campanulate, rotate or deeply stelliform; tube usually short; limb usually broad, entire to deeply lobed or even divided to the base, spreading to reflexed, the lobes usually ± pubescent to tomentose on the back, united or not by a membrane, with plicate or induplicate-valvate aestivation.
Seeds few–many, mostly flattened, compressed laterally, mostly discoidal or ± reniform, rarely surrounded by a distinct wing or appearing tomentose or hirsute; testa smooth or minutely pitted, less often muricate; embryo circinnate, sub-marginal in the fleshy usually abundant endosperm; cotyledons ovate to linear-lanceolate in outline, incumbent or sometimes oblique.
Herbs, shrubs or trees, sometimes climbing, with fibrous or tuber-bearing roots or rhizomatous, sometimes armed with straight to hooked prickles, usually pubescent with a variety of simple, branched or stellate, rarely peltate, eglandular or glandular hairs, sometimes accompanied by bristles, often with multicellular glands intermixed, rarely glabrous.
Calyx longer than the corolla tube, campanulate, rotate or cupular, with (4)5(10) valvate teeth or lobes, sometimes accrescent and sometimes investing the fruit when mature, the lobes appressed or loosely raised, sometimes reflexed, when mature mostly splitting at the sutures.
Leaves alternate, sometimes appearing in pairs with one larger (major) and the other smaller (minor), petiolate or sessile, sometimes clasping the stem, entire to deeply lobed or pinnatisect, sometimes prickly, sometimes with pseudostipules.
Disk inconspicuous or absent.
