Flora of North America species comparison

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Turnera

turnera
Habit Herbs, subshrubs, or shrubs [trees], hairs glandular and simple [stellate], glandular hairs sessile-capitate or microcapitate.
Leaves

petiolate or sessile, often with nectaries;

stipules present or absent.
Inflorescences

axillary;

peduncle free or adnate to petiole (flowers epiphyllous);

prophylls persistent.
Pedicels

absent.
Flowers

mostly distylous;

sepals at least 1/3 connate;

petals yellow or white [salmon, pink, orange, or red], sometimes with dark basal spot;

corona absent;

filaments often with nectaries;

anthers dorsifixed or basifixed.
Capsules

granulose, rugose, or verrucose [smooth].
Seeds

reticulate [striate].
x

= 5, 7, (13).

Turnera
Distribution
from USDA
sc United States; se United States; Mexico; Central America; South America; West Indies; Africa
[BONAP county map]
Discussion

Species 142 (3 in the flora).

I. Urban (1883) divided Turnera into nine series, and M. M. Arbo (2008) added two. Phylogenetic studies (S. Truyens et al. 2005; Arbo and S. M. Espert 2009) indicate that it is monophyletic.

Turnera subulata Smith, with a dark basal spot in the yellow petals, has been collected twice, probably as a garden escape, in Miami-Dade County, southern Florida.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Key
1. Leaves: petiole without nectaries, blade margins revolute; inflorescences 0.5–0.8 cm, not epiphyllous; filaments adnate for 0.2 mm to base of floral tube, anther pockets absent; anthers dorsifixed.
T. diffusa
1. Leaves: petiole with nectaries, blade margins not revolute; inflorescences 2–4 cm, epiphyllous; proximal part of filaments adnate by margins to floral tube forming 5 nectar pockets; anthers basifixed
→ 2
2. Flowers distylous; petals white.
T. coerulea
2. Flowers homostylous; petals yellow.
T. ulmifolia
Source FNA vol. 6, p. 167.
Parent taxa Turneraceae
Subordinate taxa
T. coerulea, T. diffusa, T. ulmifolia
Name authority Linnaeus: Sp. Pl. 1: 271. (1753): Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 131. (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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