Spermacoce

• Authority

  Britton, Nathaniel L. & Millspaugh, Charles F. 1920. The Bahama Flora.

• Family

  Rubiaceae

• Scientific Name

  Spermacoce

• Description

  Description - Herbs, with 4-sided stems, opposite stipulate leaves, and small white flowers, in dense axillary and terminal clusters. Calyx-tube obovoid, or obconic, its limb 4-toothed. Corolla funnelform, 4-lobed. Stamens 4, inserted on the tube of the corolla. Ovary 2-celled; ovules 1 in each cavity; style slender; stigma capitate, or slightly 2-lobed. Capsule coriaceous, didymous, of 2 carpels, one dehiscent, the other usually indehiscent. Seeds oblong, convex on the back; endosperm horny; embryo central; cotyledons foliaceous. [Greek, seed-point, from the sharp calyx-teeth surmounting the carpels.] Two or three species, natives of America. Type species: Spirmacoce tonuior L.