Hippocratea
-
Authority
Acevedo-Rodríguez, Pedro. 2005. Vines and climbing plants of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Contr. U. S. Natl. Herb. 51: 1-483.
-
Family
Hippocrateaceae
-
Scientific Name
-
Description
Description - Lianas with opposite branches, elongate, twining. Leaves opposite, petiolate; blades simple, crenate, or serrulate; petioles slender; stipules absent. Flowers minute, bisexual, actinomorphic, in axillary cymes, panicles, corymbs, or pseudoracemes; bracts small, ehartaceous. Calyx rotate, of 5 rounded sepals; corolla of 5 free petals; disc fleshy, pulviniform; stamens 3, the filaments adnate to the upper portion of the disc; ovary superior, 3-carpellate, obtusely triangular, trilocular, with 4-6 ovules per locule, the style subulate, the stigma inconspicuous. Fruit of 3 divergent, flattened mericarps, each dehiscent by a medial suture; seeds compressed, with a basal wing. A genus of 3 species, 2 in Africa and 1 in the Neotropics.