Psychotria
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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 - Erect or less often climbing shrubs, small trees, or creeping, erect, or epiphytic herbs. Leaves opposite, 3 or 4 per node, petiolate; stipules interpetiolar or intrapetiolar and connate at base or free, persistent or deciduous. Rowers bisexual, distylous, 4-6-merous, actinomorphic, heterostylous, sessile or pedicellate, in terminal or axillary, peduncled or sessile, panicles, corymbs, cymes, racemes, or heads; the axes greenish; bracts and bracteoles usually present; hypanthium cup-shaped, toothed or truncate at apex; corolla trumpetshaped, funnel-shaped, or bell-shaped, variously colored, but usually white, the tube usually straight, usually pubescent within, the lobes valvate in bud; stamens 4-6, included or exserted, the filaments inserted at the corolla throat or below; ovary inferior, 2(-5)- carpellate, each carpel with a single ascendant ovule, the style included or exserted. Fruit a fleshy drupe, with 2 or rarely 5 pyrenes, each containing a single seed.
Distribution and Ecology - A pantropical genus of 1000-1500 species, occurring in diverse habitats.