Malvaceae Juss., nom. cons.,
Contenido
Descripción
Herbs, shrubs, or trees, often stellate-pubescent; roots fibrous or woody, sometimes fleshy in perennial herbs; stems erect or procumbent, sometimes repent. Leaves alternate, stipulate (the stipules rarely suppressed), ovate, lanceolate, sometimes lobed or dissected, with hairs that are stellate, simple, sometimes prickly, sometimes glandular, or rarely lepidote. Flowers solitary or fasciculate in the axils of the leaves or grouped in inflorescences (usually racemes or panicles, sometimes spikes or scorpioid cymes, rarely umbels or heads); involucel present or absent; calyx gamosepalous, truncate, 5-toothed, 5-lobed, or 5-parted; petals 5, distinct, usually clawed, adnate to the staminal column at base; androecium monadelphous; anthers reniform, numerous (rarely reduced to 5); pollen spheroidal, echinate; gynoecium superior, 3-40-carpelled; styles 1-40; stigmas truncate, capitate, or decurrent. Fruit schizocarpic or capsular, sometimes a berry; seeds reniform or turbinate, pubescent or glabrous, rarely (in Hampea) arillate. Base chromosome numbers: x = 5,6,7, 8,9, 10, 11, 13, 14, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 25, 28.A
Discusión taxonómica
The family includes more than 100 genera and perhaps 2000 species, principally from tropical and subtropical regions but with a few genera from temperate regions.A