Dorstenia

Linnaeus

Sp. Pl. 1: 121. 175.

,

Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 56. 1754.

Common names: Tusilla
Etymology: for Theodor Dorsten (d. 1539), German herbalist and professor of medicine at Marburg
Treatment appears in FNA Volume 3.

Herbs, perennial, rhizomatous; stems short, fleshy, aerial stems not evident; sap milky. Leaves alternate; stipules persistent, free. Leaf blade ovate to orbiculate, margins entire or pinnately lobed; venation palmate near base of blade, otherwise pinnate. Inflorescences axillary, flowers embedded in long-pedunculate, flat receptacle. Flowers: staminate and pistillate on same plant. Staminate flowers: calyx minute, 2-3-lobed; stamens 1-3, inflexed in bud. Pistillate flowers: calyx tubular, 4-lobed; ovary inferior, embedded in receptacle, 1-locular; style 2-branched. Syncarps disc- or cup-shaped; drupes embedded in enlarged, fleshy, common receptacle. Seeds explosively expelled.

Discussion

Species ca. 170 (1 in the flora).

Selected References

None.