Jacquinia

Jacquinia aurantiaca

The Jacquinia are a genus of the subfamily Theophrastoideae.

Description

Jacquinia species are richly branched shrubs or small trees. The leaves are entire, small, needle-like and occasionally occupied at the top with a sting.

The terminal racemose inflorescence contains little to many flowers. The flowers are hermaphroditic and fünfzählig. The crown is bell - shaped to urn, orange, white or yellow. The appendage of the crown have been flattened and kronblattähnlich. The stamens are united at the base, the anthers blunt - triangular.

The fruit is nearly round or oblong, the pericarp is thickened and lignified or thin and knitterig.

Dissemination

The genus Jacquinia native to the West Indies and from Mexico to northern South America.

System

The genus Jacquinia was first described in 1759 and is named after the Austrian botanist and chemist Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin.

It contains 32 species, including:

• Jacquinia aurantiaca Ait.
• Jacquinia berteroi Spreng.
• Jacquinia nervosa C.Presl

Evidence

• B. Steel: Theophrastaceae. In: Klaus Kubitzki (ed.): The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Volume 6: Flowering Plants, Dicotyledons: Celastrales, Oxalidales, Rosales, Cornales, Ericales. Springer, Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 2004, ISBN 3-540-06512-1, pp. 472-478, doi: 10.1007/978-3-662-07257-8 ( limited preview on Google Book Search ).