Urceola Roxb.

Climbers; producing latex. Branches lenticellate or not; branchlets puberulent to glabrous. Leaves opposite, those of a pair equal; petiolate, with or without glands in axils; papery to coriaceous, entire. Inflorescence cymose, terminal and/or axillary sometimes forming a panicle; flowers 5-merous, actinomorphic. Sepal lobes free; colleters few inside or absent. Corolla: lobes dextrorse or valvate, bud variable in shape from globose to ovoid to ellipsoid; open corolla urceolate to campanulate; lobes triangular or falcate to the right often with a marked projection pointing to the right as viewed from the inside. Stamens completely included within the corolla tube, attached in a ring to the style head; filament short; anthers fertile in the upper half only, the lower half sterile, laterally with lignified guide rails and sagittate appendages at the base. Disk annular to 5-dentate. Gynoecium 2-carpellate, apocarpous but apically united into a common style, superior, ovoid, densely puberulent on top; ovules numerous; style glabrous, very short; style head ovoid with a projection on top. Fruit of paired follicles; very variable in shape; longitudinally dehiscent. Seeds hirsute; ellipsoid, flattened; with a coma pointing towards the end of the fruit.

UsesAlmost all species have been recorded as producing a high quality rubber before the widespread use of Hevea brasiliensis.