52. Stauranthera Bentham, Scroph. Ind. 57. 1835.
十字苣苔属 shi zi ju tai shu
Cyananthus Griffith.
Herbs, perennial, terrestrial, not rhizomatous. Stems branched or simple. Leaves few, along stem, alternate or opposite and strongly unequal; leaf blade glabrescent to sparsely puberulent, base strongly oblique, cuneate to rounded. Inflorescences lax, pseudoterminal, few- to many-flowered cymes; bracts 2, opposite. Calyx actinomorphic, 5-lobed, plicate between adjoining lobes; lobes equal. Corolla white, blue, or purple, zygomorphic, inside glabrous; tube campanulate, spurred or saccate at base, slightly longer than limb, ca. 4 mm in diam.; limb indistinctly 2-lipped; adaxial lip 2-lobed, nearly as long as abaxial lip; abaxial lip 3-lobed, lobes equal or subequal, apex rounded. Stamens 4, adnate to corolla tube near base, included; anthers basifixed, coherent laterally to form a shallow cone, thecae slightly divergent, confluent at apex, dehiscing longitudinally; connective not projecting; staminode unknown. Disc absent. Ovary subglobose, 1-loculed; placentas 2, parietal, projecting inward, 2-cleft. Stigma 1, terminal, broadly funnelform, undivided. Capsule straight in relation to pedicel, depressed-globose, shorter than calyx, dehiscing transversely or irregularly. Seeds unappendaged.
About 10 species: SE Asia, Pacific Islands; one species in China.
