Guapira
Hist. Pl. Guiane 1: 308, plate 119 (as Quapira). 1775.
Taxon | Illustrator ⠉ | |
---|---|---|
Tripterocalyx crux-maltae Pisonia aculeata Guapira discolor | Bee F. Gunn Bee F. Gunn Bee F. Gunn |
Trees or shrubs, perennial, from tuberous taproot. Stems erect, divaricately branching, unarmed, internodes without glutinous bands, glabrate (short-pubescent). Leaves petiolate; blade broadly lanceolate to obovate, thin, margins entire. Inflorescences in axils of leaves, compound cymose, loose, each flower subtended by 2–3 bracts. Flowers unisexual, (plants dioecious), chamogamous, narrow; staminate perianth 5-toothed, tubular to narrowly campanulate, limb not reflexed at maturity, stamens 5–10, exceeding perianth; pistillate perianth 5-toothed, tubular, closing over ovary, styles slender, barely exserted, stigmas tipped by fine hairs. Fruits bright-orange-red, becoming weakly 10-ribbed upon drying, obovoid to globose, fleshy, glandless.
Distribution
Neotropics
Discussion
Species 10–50 (2 in the flora).
The genus is closely allied with Neea Ruiz & Pavón, another dioecious, fleshy-fruited, shrubby member of the Nyctaginaceae restricted to the Neotropics.
See E. L. Little Jr. (1968) for additional synonymy.
Selected References
None.
Lower Taxa
Key
1 | Leaf blades coriaceous, rigid when dry; young twigs, buds, and inflorescences glabrate or sparsely reddish pubescent | Guapira discolor |
1 | Leaf blades fleshy-chartaceous, thin and ± papery when dry; young twigs, buds, and inflo- rescences densely reddish pubescent | Guapira obtusata |
"thin" is not a number."fine" is not a number.