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Maesa ribes

Interesting Facts

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Description

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Family Primulaceae

Herbs perennial or annual , rarely suffruticose . Leaves alternate, opposite, or whorled , often all basal, simple , entire to lobed . Flowers solitary or in panicles, racemes , or umbels, usually with bracts, perfect , (4- or) 5(--9) -merous, often heterostylous (Primula) . Calyx persistent . Corolla gamopetalous, actinomorphic , rarely absent (Glaux) . Stamens as many as and opposite corolla lobes , ± epipetalous , occasionally with scalelike staminodes. Filaments free or connate into a tube at base . Ovary superior, rarely semi-inferior (Samolus), unilocular ; placentation free central; style simple; stigma inconspicuous, capitate. Fruit a capsule, dehiscing by valves , rarely circumscissile or indehiscent. Seeds many or few; embryo small, straight, surrounded by endosperm.

The family contains 22 genera and ca. 1000 species, occurring mainly in temperate and mountainous regions of the northern hemisphere. Twelve genera and 517 species are widely distributed throughout China, but are represented mostly in the S and W regions. The centers of diversity for Primula, Androsace, and Omphalogramma are W Sichuan, E Xizang, and NW Yunnan. Lysimachia is also highly developed in provinces S of the Chang Jiang, while Pomatosace is an endemic genus confined to a small area of NW Sichuan and Qinghai.

Many species of Primula and Androsace are cultivated for their attractive flowers as pot plants , in rock gardens, or in garden borders . Some species of Lysimachia are used medicinally. Cyclamen persicum Miller is frequently cultivated as a pot plant.[1]

Genus Maesa

Shrubs or rarely small trees . Leaves entire, serrate, or dentate at margin , usually punctate . Inflorescences racemose, often paniculate ; bracts small; bracteoles 2, usually subtending base of calyx. Flowers 5-merous, bisexual or polygamous. Calyx funnelform, adnate to ovary, lobes valvate . Corolla white or yellowish, campanulate , often punctate-lineate. Stamens free , included . Ovary semi-inferior or inferior, aborted in staminate flowers ; ovules numerous , on a globose free-central placenta. Style as long as or longer than stamens; stigma entire or 3-5-lobed. Fruit globose or ovoid berries or drupes with a crustose endocarp, apex ± covered by persistent calyx, often longitudinally orange punctate-lineate. Seeds small, numerous, angular, embedded in a hollow placenta.

About 200 species: primarily in Old World tropics; 29 species in China.[2]

Taxonomy

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Similar Species

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Members of the genus Maesa

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 1 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

M. lanceolata (False Assegai)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal December 10, 2007:

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Qiming Hu & Sylvia Kelso "Primulaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 15 Page 39. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Maesa". in Flora of China Vol. 15 Page 1. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 7/15/2012