Family: Convolvulaceae |
Based on M. Thulin (2006) Merremia. Flora of Somalia 3:238-240 Plants herbs, twining or prostrate. Leaves entire or lobed, sometimes deeply so. Inflorescences axillary, of solitary flowers or few- to many-flowered cymes. Sepals usually subequal, the outer 2 sepals sometimes slightly longer than the inner three; corollas campanulate, entire or lobed, white or yellow with a dark brown or purple centre; pollen grains smooth; ovaries 2-4-celled, usually with 4 ovules; styles filiform; stigmas 2, globular. Capsules usually 4-valved; seeds usually 4, glabrous or pubescent. Merremia, as now (2022) interpreted, includes about 50 species, not 80 as stated in the Flora of Somalia. Five of the nine species treated in the Flora remain in Merremia, 3 have been transferred to Distimake, and 1 to Xenostegia. The above description will be modified further after I determine how these two genera differ from Merremia as now interpreted. Key to the species of Merremia in Somaliland and Somalia. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2017, 183, 561–586 Plants prostrate or twining herbs. Leaves simple, entire, shallowly 3-lobed, 3-angled or deeply 5-lobed, often variable in shape. Flowers small; sepals to 5 mm long, the outer 2 sepals sometimes slightly longer than the inner 3; corollas campanulate, often gibbous on one side, glabrous outside, drying with dark veins in the mid-letal bans; anthers longitudinally dehiscing, tips slightly curving of spirally dehiscing; pollen tricolpate; ovaries usually glabrous, sometimes dehiscent. Fruits chartaceous, 4-valved capsules, calyces not accrescent, exocarp not delaminating; seeds trigonous. Merremia is widespread in the Old World tropics, havings its greatest number of species in Asia. As currently treated it includes about 20 species, 10 of which form a clade that includes the type species. The appropriate treatment of the remaining species is not yet clear so they are left in Merremia pending further investigation. Key to the species in Pakistan Global distribution of Merremia. Note: GBIF records include introduced and cultivated plants. Consequently, the distribution shown often differs from statements about a taxon's native distribution.
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