Melochia
-
Authority
Britton, Nathaniel L. & Millspaugh, Charles F. 1920. The Bahama Flora.
-
Family
Malvaceae
-
Scientific Name
-
Description
Description - Herbs or shrubs, often stellate-pubescent, with petioled, serrate leaves and small, sometimes involueellate, perfect flowers in axillary or terminal glomerules or panicles. Sepals or calyx-segments little enlarged in fruit. Petals convolute, mareescent. Stamens opposite the petals; filaments more or less united below; staminodia none, or rarely present and minute. Ovary 5-celled; ovules 2 in each cavity; styles distinct, or united near the base. Fruit a small 5-coccous capsule, loculicidally dehiscent. Seeds with fleshy endosperm. [Arabic name.] About 50 species, natives of tropical and subtropical regions. Type species: Melochia corchorifolia L.