Description: Climbing shrubs usually with a foetid smell when bruised.
Leaves opposite or infrequently in whorls of 3 or 4, sometimes with pubescent domatia. Stipules more or less triangular, entire.
Flowers in axillary or terminal thyrsoid inflorescences. Calyx lobes 4–5, persistent. Corolla with tube cylindric to narrowly campanulate; lobes 4–5. Stamens 4–5. Ovary 2–3-locular.
Fruit a schizocarp, subspherical to flattened-ovoid or –ellipsoid containing 2 or 3, circular to elliptic, pendulous, laterally flattened and often distinctly winged, 1-seeded pyrenes.
Distribution and occurrence: 30 species world wide: tropical and subtropical Africa, Asia, Madagascar, North America (Mexico), and South America. 1 species naturalised in NSW.
Text by Louisa Murray
Taxon concept: Flora of Zimbabwe: http://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw
| One species in NSW: Paederia foetida |
|
