Russelia

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Russelia
Russelia Sarmentosa

Russelia Sarmentosa

Systematics
Asterids
Euasterids I
Order : Mint family (Lamiales)
Family : Plantain family (Plantaginaceae)
Tribe : Russelieae
Genre : Russelia
Scientific name
Russelia
Jacq.

Russelia is a genus of around 40 to 50 species with mostly small leaves and red flowers in the plantain family (Plantaginaceae). The distribution area extends from Mexico to South America . One species is often used as an ornamental shrub.

description

Illustration from Blanco by Russelia equisetiformis

Vegetative characteristics

Russelia species form highly branched, upright or creeping shrubs . The grooved to angular branches are downy hairy or balding.

The whorled or oppositely arranged leaves are relatively small and the higher ones are very small to scale-shaped.

Generative characteristics

The lateral, zymous or panicle inflorescences contain only one to four flowers . No front pages are created.

The hermaphrodite flowers are five-fold with a double flower envelope . The five sepals are only fused at their base. The unequal calyx lobes are lanceolate to ovate. The five striking red or pink, rarely white petals are fused tubular to bell-shaped and the somewhat two-lobed crown ends in five corolla lobes. The crown is mostly bald on the outside and hairy on the inside in the seam of the throat and at the origin of the anthers. The four stamens do not protrude beyond the corolla tube. The often downy hairy stamens are inserted directly above the base of the corolla tube. The anthers are two-compartment. The stylus is thread-shaped and slightly bilobed at the tip.

The rounded or broadly ellipsoidal capsule fruits open with four flaps and contain numerous seeds. The relatively small seeds are elongated.

The chromosome number is for Russelia equisetiformis , for Russelia juncea and for Russelia sarmentosa 2n = 20.

Systematics and distribution

Russelia equisetiformis

The genus Russelia was established in 1760 by Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin in Enumeratio Systematica Plantarum, quas in insulis Caribaeis 6, page 25. The generic name Russelia honors the Scottish doctor and natural scientist Alexander Russell (around 1715 to 1768). The type species is Russelia sarmentosa Jacq. A homonym is Russelia L. f.

The genus Russelia belongs together with the genus Tetranema to Tribe Russelieae Pennell within the family of plantain plants (Plantaginaceae).

The natural range of the species extends from Mexico to the tropical South America. The center of biodiversity is in Mexico.

About 40 to 50 species are assigned to the genus:

use

At least one species, Russelia equisetiformis , is widely used as an ornamental shrub in the tropics and subtropics .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g Russelia at Tropicos.org. In: Flora of Panama (WFO) . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
  2. ^ A b c d Albert C. Smith: Flora Vitiensis Nova: A New Flora of Fiji. Pp. 77, 78.
  3. ↑ Russelia at Tropicos.org. In: IPCN Chromosome Reports . Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis
  4. ↑ a b Russelia at Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden, St. Louis, Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  5. ↑ Helmut Genaust: Etymological dictionary of botanical plant names. 3rd, completely revised and expanded edition. Nikol, Hamburg 2005, ISBN 3-937872-16-7 , p. 547 (reprint from 1996).
  6. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names . Extended Edition. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Free University Berlin Berlin 2018. [1]
  7. ↑ Russelia in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), USDA , ARS , National Genetic Resources Program. National Germplasm Resources Laboratory, Beltsville, Maryland.
  8. ↑ a b Andreas Bärtels: Tropical Plants . P. 155.
  9. ↑ Russelia. In: The Plant List. Retrieved December 1, 2014 .

literature

  • Albert C. Smith: Flora Vitiensis Nova: A New Flora of Fiji . Spermatophytes Only. Ed .: Pacific Island Ecosystems at Risk [PIER]. tape V . National Tropical Botanical Garden, Lawai, Kauai, Hawaii 1991, pp. 77, 78 ( archive.org [accessed December 1, 2014]).
  • Andreas Bärtels: Tropical Plants . Ornamental and useful plants. 5th, revised edition. Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-8001-3937-5 , p. 155 .

Web links

Commons : Russelia  - collection of images, videos and audio files