Elatostema
| Elatostema | ||||||||||||
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Elatostema umbellatum var. Majus |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Elatostema | ||||||||||||
| JR Forest. & G.Forst. |
Elatostema is a genus of the nettle family (Urticaceae) that is mainly found in Southeast Asia .
features
They are herbaceous plants , sometimes small shrubs . The plants do not have stinging hairs such as B. the nettle .
The sheets are actually set opposite each other and in two lines, whereby one sheet of a pair is always greatly reduced or even missing entirely. This creates an apparently two-line alternating foliage. In addition, there are two stipules at the bottom of each leaf .
The leaves are asymmetrical at the bottom, which is why one species ( Elatostema pulchrum ) has also been given the German name melon begonia . They have a clearly protruding nerve which, in some species, can consist of only three main nerves. In terms of shape, they are usually elongated, rhombic to lanceolate.
The leaf edge is usually sharply serrated. In some species, however, the teeth can be very distant or completely absent.
The flowers are in three to mostly multi-flowered, disc-shaped, head-shaped inflorescences with a well-developed head base. The heads are short stalked in the leaf axils. In many species they consist of two halves, each of which sits over a few bracts , and each contains several flower clusters. The bracts can be fused to form half a head envelope. The plants can be one ( monoecious ) or dioecious ( dioecious ). The individual flower heads are always unisexual. The flowers are four or five-fold with a perianth .
Occurrence
The approximately 300 species are mainly soil inhabitants of tropical and subtropical rainforests. Its two-line foliage is also interpreted as an adaptation to this shady location.
They are mainly found in the tropics and subtropics of Asia and Oceania up to Queensland , but also in Africa . Some species can be found in the temperate latitudes of East Asia. There are 146 species in China.
Types (selection)
- Elatostema malipoense W.T. Wang & Zeng Y.Wu
- Elatostema pleiophlebium W.T. Wang & Zeng Y.Wu
- Melon begonia ( Elatostema pulchrum Hallier f. , Syn .: Pellionia pulchra N.E.Br. ) is sometimes offered as an ornamental plant
Others
The young leaves of some species, like the young leaves of nettles, can be eaten cooked.
swell
- Flora of China
- Urania plant kingdom; Flowering Plants 1, ISBN 3-332-00496-4
- Nihon-no yaso (Wild Herbs of Japan), ISBN 4-635-09016-7
