Guettarda
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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
Rubiaceae
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Scientific Name
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Description
Genus Description - Shrubs or small trees, unarmed or less often with spiny branches. Leaves opposite or rarely 3 per node, coriaceous to rigidly coriaceous, petiolate; stipules interpetiolar, simple, persistent or deciduous. Flowers bisexual, or bisexual and unisexual on different individuals, 5-6(-9)-merous, actinomorphic, pedicellate, in axillary cymes, solitary or sessile in groups of 2 or 3; bract present or wanting; hypanthium cup-shaped or sometimes not distinguishable from the calyx; calyx tubular to ovoid, truncate or 2-9-toothed at apex; corolla trumpet-shaped, white, pink, or bright red, the tube much longer than the lobes, glabrous within, the lobes imbricate in bud; stamens 4-9, included, the filaments inserted in corolla tube; ovary inferior, 2-9-carpellate, each carpel with a solitary pendulous ovule, the style filiform, included, the stigma capitate. Fruit a leathery to fleshy drupe, with an inner stony layer containing 2-9 seeds.
Distribution and Ecology - A genus of about 100 species, predominantly in the West Indies, but also in Central America, South America, and a few in New Caledonia.