梅蓝属 mei lan shu

Small shrubs or herbs. Leaves simple, hairy, margin serrate. Flowers axillary, solitary or in short racemes. Epicalyx lobes (2 or)3, cordate or reniform, usually longer than sepals, persistent. Calyx 5-divided. Petals 5, enclosing ovary and persistent. Filament tube cup-shaped, very short; 5 tongue-shaped staminodes alternating with 5 stamens. Ovary sessile, 5-loculed; ovules 1 to many per locule; style subulately 5-branched. Capsule 5, dehiscent. Seeds with endosperm; cotyledons plicate, 2-lobed at apex.

About 60 species: primarily in Africa, C Asia, Australia, and Madagascar; one species in China.

Lower Taxon

• Melhania hamiltoniana Wallich