Pavonia Cav.
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Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro & collaborators. 1996. Flora of St. John, U.S. Virgin Islands. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 78: 1-581.
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Family
Malvaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Genus Description - Prostrate perennial herbs, erect subshrubs, or shrubs (rarely arborescent), often stellate-pubescent, sometimes viscid, sometimes glabrate. Leaves petiolate; blades ovate, elliptic, lanceolate, oblanceolate, or deltoid, sometimes lobed or asymmetrical, the margin dentate or crenate (rarely entire). Rowers solitary, or paired in the leaf axils, or aggregated in racemes, panicles, or heads; involucel present, 4-24-parted, the bractlets distinct or basally connate; calyx 5-lobed; corolla white, lavender, purple, or yellow, sometimes with a dark center; staminal column included or exserted, sometimes declined with secund anthers, surmounted by 5 apical teeth; styles 10, exceeding the androecium, the stigmas capitate. Fruit schizocarpic; mericarps 5, usually indehiscent, sometimes winged, spined, rugose, or otherwise ornamented, minutely pubescent or glabrous; seeds solitary.
Distribution and Ecology - A tropical and subtropical genus of ca. 250 species, ca. 220 of which occur in the N e w World.