Peltaea (C. Presl) Standl.
Contenido
Descripción
Shrubs or subshrubs, erect or decumbent, stellate-pubescent. Leaves shortpetiolate, the blades elliptic to ovate to suborbicular, crenate-serrate, acute or obtuse, lacking foliar nectaries. Flowers solitary in the leaf axils (two species) or more commonly grouped in dense headlike aggregations subtended by specialized floral bracts, the bracts subsessile, cordate-ovate, serrate, the “heads” subsessile to long-pedunculate; pedicels usually short; involucel of 8-13 bracts, these spatulate or (in ours) bifurcate; calyx 5-lobed; petals relatively showy, yellow or lavender; androecium included, apically 5-dentate, the anthers distributed more or less throughout its length, sometimes grouped at several distinct levels; styles 10, exceeding staminal column, the stigmas capitate. Fruits schizocarpic; mericarps 5, glabrous or pubescent, trigonal, more or less smooth and without ornamentation (winged in one species), essentially indehiscent; seeds solitary, glabrous or pubescent. Base chromosome number: x = 25.A
Discusión taxonómica
Peltaea, a genus of eighteen species, is principally South American in distribution but extends northward to Cuba (two species) and Central America (two species). One species reaches southern Mexico.A