3. Laportea Gaudichaud Beaupré, Voy. Uranie, Bot. 12: 498. 1830.
[For F.L. de Laporte de Castelnau, leader of expeditions to South America]
Urticastrum Heister ex Fabricius
Herbs , annual or perennial, with stinging and nonstinging hairs on same plant. Stems simple, erect. Leaves alternate; stipules present. Leaf blades narrowly ovate to orbiculate, margins dentate or serrate; cystoliths rounded. Inflorescences axillary and terminal, of paniculately arranged cymes. Flowers unisexual, proximal panicles staminate and distal pistillate, or staminate and pistillate flowers in same panicle; bracts absent. Staminate flowers: tepals 4-5, distinct, equal; stamens 4-5; pistillode knoblike. Pistillate flowers: tepals 2-4, distinct, outer pair minute or absent, without hooked hairs; staminodes absent; style persistent even in fruit, hooklike or elongate; stigma extended along style. Achenes stipitate, laterally compressed, ±orbicular, free from and not enclosed by perianth. x =13.
Species 22 (2 in the flora): North America, West Indies, Central America, South America, Asia, Africa, Pacific Islands.
Most species of Laportea occur in Africa and Madagascar.
SELECTED REFERENCES
Chew, W.L. 1969. A monograph of Laportea (Urticaceae). Gard. Bull. Straits Settlem. 25: 111-178.
