Flora of North America species comparison

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Melochia

broom-wood, melochia
Habit Herbs, annual or perennial, subshrubs, or shrubs [trees], erect, spreading, or decumbent, taprooted.
Stems

unarmed, hairy, hairs usually simple and/or stellate, sometimes also glandular.
Leaves

petiolate;

stipules usually deciduous, linear-lanceolate;

blade: margins rarely present;

anthers 2-thecate;

ovary 5-locular;

ovules 2 per locule;

styles 5, distinct or basally connate, filiform;

stigmas included, decurrent on style, papillose.
Fruits

capsules, pyramidal and 5-winged, or schizocarps, subglobular and not winged, dehiscence loculicidal, sometimes also septicidal, fruit then falling apart.
Seeds

1 or 2 per locule, obovoid, with 2 flat sides and 1 rounded, smooth;

endosperm present, fleshy;

embryo straight;

cotyledon flat.
x

= 7, 9, 10.

Melochia
Distribution
from USDA
c United States; se United States; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; Asia; Africa; Pacific Islands; Australia; tropical and subtropical areas
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species ca. 60 (4 in the flora).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Inflorescences: bracteoles at base of pedicel; fruits pyramidal, 5-winged, 7–14 mm diam
→ 2
1. Inflorescences: bracteoles immediately subtending flower; fruits subglobose, not winged, 2.5–6 mm diam
→ 3
2. Leaf blades glabrous or glabrate, hairs mostly simple; inflorescences usually leaf-opposed; fruits often purple-blotched.
M. pyramidata
2. Leaf blades tomentulose and canescent, hairs stellate; inflorescences usually axillary; fruits not purple-blotched.
M. tomentosa
3. Inflorescences spikelike; petals 8–11 mm; flowers dimorphic (pistil and stamens of unequal lengths varying inversely in different plants); fruits capsules.
M. villosa
3. Inflorescences terminal and axillary, cymose glomerules; petals 3–6 mm; flowers monomorphic (pistil and stamens of equal lengths); fruits schizocarps.
M. corchorifolia
Source FNA vol. 6, p. 210. Author: Aaron Goldberg†.
Parent taxa Malvaceae > subfam. Byttnerioideae
Subordinate taxa
M. corchorifolia, M. pyramidata, M. tomentosa, M. villosa
Synonyms Moluchia, Physodium
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 2: 674 [as 774]. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 304. (1754)
Web links 
Unless otherwise noted, all data comes from the online version of the Flora of North America, who have made most of their content available via a Creative Commons license (CC BY 4.0).



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