Guazuma Mill.
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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 - Small to medium-sized trees, stellate-pubescent to glabrescent throughout. Leaf blades chartaceous to coriaceous, crenate-dentate, often asymmetrical at base; stipules minute, early deciduous. Flowers bisexual, in axillary, thyrsiform cymes, not borne on the trunk and older branches; calyx of (2-)3 unequal, reflexed lobes; petals 5, hooded, covering the fertile stamen groups, the apex prolonged into a deeply bifid, strap-shaped appendage; androphore or androgynophore absent; stamens (10)15, arranged in 5 antipetalous groups of (2)3, alternating with 5 staminodes, connate (stamens and staminodes) for most of their length into a staminal tube, the filaments group distinct at apex, reflexed, 1 free, 2 connate, the anthers 2-locular; staminodes distinct at apex, more or less triangular; ovary sessile, 5-carpellate, with 5 minute lobes at apex, ovules many per locule, the style simple, the stigma 1-5-lobed. Fruit a woody, warty capsule, indehiscent or dehiscent but with the 5 valves scarcely separating; seeds ovoid.
Distribution and Ecology - A neotropical genus of 2 species ranging from Mexico to central South America and the West Indies.