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  1. Family: Rubiaceae Juss.

    1. Spermacoce L.

        2. This genus is accepted, and its native range is Tropics & Subtropics.

    [FZ]

    Rubiaceae, B. Verdcourt. Flora Zambesiaca 5:1. 1989

    Habit
    Annual or perennial herbs or small subshrubs, with glabrous, pubescent, hispid or scabrid very often 4-angled prostrate to erect stems.
    Leaves
    Leaves opposite or falsely whorled, sessile or petiolate, the petioles often united with the stipule sheath, which is mostly divided into 1-many ± filiform fimbriae.
    Flowers
    Flowers mostly small or occasionally medium-sized, hermaphrodite, not heterostylous (except in sect. Galianthe (Griseb.) K. Schum. which does not occur in Africa), sessile, mostly in axillary ± globose often very many-flowered clusters or less often in terminal capitula, supported by 1 -2(more) pairs of leaves forming bracts, or 1-few in the axils (some extra-African species have extensive terminal inflorescences); sometimes the axillary nodal clusters run together to form a spike-like inflorescence the leaf pairs forming scattered or congested bracts; the flowers in the globose clusters are frequently intermixed with numerous ± scarious filiform bracteoles.
    Calyx
    Calyx tube obovoid, turbinate or obconic; lobes 2–4(8), mostly triangular, oblong or lanceolate, often ± persistent, sometimes with intermediate denticles.
    Corolla
    Corolla funnel-shaped or salver-shaped, the tube sometimes very slender, sometimes with a ring of hairs inside towards base; throat glabrous to hairy; lobes (3)4, mostly spreading, valvate.
    Stamens
    Stamens 4, the filaments inserted in the tube or at the throat, the linear to oblong anthers included or mostly exserted.
    Pistil
    Ovary 2-locular, the amphitropous ovules solitary in each locule, attached to the middle of the septum; style filiform, mostly exserted; stigma capitellate or with 2 short lobes.
    Fruits
    Fruit mostly a 2-valved capsule dehiscing from the apex downwards with the septum disappearing (in sect. Borreria (G.F.W. Mey.) Verdc.) or sometimes 2-coccous, one dehiscent but the other remaining ± closed (sect. Spermacoce) or in a few species (sect Arbulocarpus (Tennant) Verdc.) the capsule splitting from the base upwards but valves remaining attached by the calyx limb which is not split across, the whole falling off like a lid, a persistent septum being left behind.
    Seeds
    Seeds oblong, ellipsoid or ovoid, usually shining brown with a thin often clearly reticulate testa, ventrally grooved; albumen horny or fleshy.
    [FTEA]

    Rubiaceae, B. Verdcourt. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1976

    Habit
    Annual or perennial herbs or small subshrubs, with glabrous, pubescent, hispid or scabrid very often 4-angled prostrate to erect stems
    Leaves
    Leaves opposite or falsely whorled, sessile or petiolate, the petioles often united with the stipule-sheath, which is mostly divided into 1-many ± filiform fimbriae
    Flowers
    Flowers mostly small or occasionally medium-sized, hermaphrodite, not heterostylous (except in sect. Galianthe (Griseb.) K. Schum. which does not occur in Africa), sessile, mostly in axillary ± globose often very many-flowered clusters or less often in terminal capitula, supported by 1–2(-more) pairs of leaves forming bracts, or 1-few in the axils (some extra-African species have extensive terminal inflorescences); sometimes the axillary nodal clusters run together to form a spike-like inflorescence the leaf pairs forming scattered or congested bracts; the flowers in the globose clusters are frequently intermixed with numerous ± scarious filiform bracteoles
    Calyx
    Calyx-tube obovoid, turbinate or obconic; lobes 2–4(–8), mostly triangular, oblong or lanceolate, often ± persistent, sometimes with intermediate denticles
    Corolla
    Corolla funnel-shaped or salver-shaped, the tube sometimes very slender; throat glabrous to hairy; lobes (3–)4, mostly spreading, valvate
    Stamens
    Stamens 4, the filaments inserted in the tube or at the throat, the linear to oblong anthers included or mostly exserted
    Pistil
    Ovary 2-locular, the amphitropous ovules solitary in each locule, attached to the middle of the septum; style filiform, mostly exserted; stigma capitellate or with 2 short lobes
    Fruits
    Fruit mostly a 2-valved capsule dehiscing from the apex downwards with the septum disappearing (in sect. Borreria (G. F. W. Mey.) Verdc.) or sometimes 2-coccous, one dehiscent but the other remaining ± closed (sect. Spermacoce) or in a few species (sect. Arbulocarpus (Tennant) Verdc.) the capsule splitting from the base upwards but valves remaining attached by the calyx-limb which is not split across, the whole falling off like a lid, a persistent septum being left behind
    Seeds
    Seeds oblong, ellipsoid or ovoid, usually shining brown with a thin often clearly reticulate testa, ventrally grooved; albumen horny or fleshy.

    Images

    Distribution

    Native to:

    Alabama, Andaman Is., Angola, Argentina Northeast, Argentina Northwest, Arkansas, Aruba, Assam, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bolivia, Borneo, Botswana, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Burkina, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Caprivi Strip, Caroline Is., Cayman Is., Central African Repu, Central American Pac, Chad, Chile North, China South-Central, China Southeast, Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, East Himalaya, Ecuador, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Fiji, Florida, French Guiana, Gabon, Galápagos, Gambia, Georgia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Guyana, Hainan, Haiti, Honduras, Illinois, India, Indiana, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Jawa, Kansas, Kentucky, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Leeward Is., Lesser Sunda Is., Liberia, Louisiana, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaya, Maldives, Mali, Maluku, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexican Pacific Is., Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Mississippi, Missouri, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nansei-shoto, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, New Guinea, New South Wales, Nicaragua, Nicobar Is., Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Northern Territory, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pakistan, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Queensland, Rwanda, Réunion, Samoa, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Solomon Is., Somalia, South China Sea, Southwest Caribbean, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Suriname, Swaziland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Tennessee, Texas, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad-Tobago, Turks-Caicos Is., Uganda, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Venezuelan Antilles, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Western Australia, Windward Is., Yemen, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe

    Introduced into:

    Ascension, Cabinda, Cambodia, Canary Is., Cape Verde, Chagos Archipelago, Christmas I., Cocos (Keeling) Is., Cook Is., Gilbert Is., Hawaii, Laos, Line Is., Marianas, Nauru, New Caledonia, Niue, Society Is., Solomon Is., Tokelau-Manihiki, Tonga, Wallis-Futuna Is.

    Spermacoce L. appears in other Kew resources:

    Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
    Feb 1, 2014 Harley, R.M. [11271], Brazil K001068310
    Feb 1, 2014 Pirani, J.R. [4035], Brazil K001068358
    Feb 1, 2014 Eiten, G. [3760], Brazil K001068313
    Feb 1, 2014 Gifford, D.R. [63], Brazil K001068311
    Feb 1, 2014 Prance, G.T. [P 24849], Brazil K001068352
    Feb 1, 2014 Zappi, D.C. [377], Brazil K001068354
    Feb 1, 2014 Skorupa, L.A. [313], Brazil K001068353
    Feb 1, 2014 Fernandes, H.Q.B. [1925], Brazil K001068356
    Feb 1, 2004 Etuge, M. [4735], Cameroon K000746450
    Jan 1, 1982 Philcox, D. [4091], Brazil K001068312
    Hunt, D.R. [6258], Brazil K001068357
    Bidgood, S. [5488], Tanzania K000190718
    Martinelli, G. [9024], Brazil K001068347
    Queiroz, L.P. [9664], Brazil K001068339
    Davis, A.P. [2510], Madagascar 61996.000
    Eiten, G. [8363], Brazil K001068348
    Souza, E.B. [877], Brazil K001068344
    Dubs, B. [2075], Brazil K001068351
    Romero, R. [3071], Brazil K001068350
    Plowman, T.C. [12383], Brazil K001068342
    Prance, G.T. [18285], Brazil K001068334
    Poiteau, P.A. [s.n.], French Guiana K001068345
    Hatschbach, G.G. [79850], Brazil K001068340
    Fernandes, H.Q.B. [2798], Brazil K001068315
    Zartman, C.E. [5949], Brazil K001068341
    Zartman, C.E. [5948], Brazil K001068314
    Vervloet, R.R. [1508], Brazil K001068343
    Vervloet, R.R. [3459], Brazil K001068355
    Tweedie, E.M. [514], Kenya Borreria 8534.000
    Milne-Redhead, E. [8821], Tanzania Borreria 31220.000
    Loiola, I. [846], Brazil Borreria K001212263

    First published in Sp. Pl.: 102 (1753)

    Accepted by

    • Davidse, G. & al. (eds.) (2012). Flora Mesoamericana 4(2): 1-533. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México, D.F.
    • Wu, Z., Raven, P.H. & Hong, D. (eds.) (2011). Flora of China 19: 1-884. Missouri Botanical Garden Press, St. Louis.
    • Delprete, P.G. (2010). Rubiaceae Flora dos estados de Goiás e Tocantins 40: 1-1610. Universidade Federal de Goiás.
    • Harwood, R. & Dessein, S. (2005). Australian Spermacoce (Rubiaceae: Spermacoceae). I. Northern Territory Australian Systematic Botany 18: 297-365.
    • Govaerts, R. (2003). World Checklist of Selected Plant Families Database in ACCESS: 1-216203. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

    Literature

    Flora Zambesiaca
    • Gen. Pl., ed. 5: 44 (1754).
    • Sp. Pl.: 102 (1753)
    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • L., Gen. Pl., ed. 5: 44 (1754)
    • Sp. Pl.: 102 (1753)

    Sources

    Flora Zambesiaca
    Flora Zambesiaca
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

    Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
    'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

    Kew Backbone Distributions
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2020. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

    Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2020. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0