Herbs, annual or perennial, aquatic, mat-forming; stolons horizontal. Stems functionally stolons. Leaves on stolons, opposite; petiole absent [present]; blade fleshy, margins entire, obscurely uninerved (midvein). Inflorescences axillary, flowers solitary; bracts absent. Pedicels absent or present, longer or shorter than calyces; bracteoles absent. Flowers [monomorphic] dimorphic (perianth), erect or sessile; sepals 3[4], calyx radially or bilaterally symmetric, campanulate or urceolate, lobes oblong, adaxial lobe longer; petals 0 or [3–]5, corolla fugacious, white [suffused with blue, pink, or purple], bilaterally symmetric, weakly bilabiate, short-funnelform, abaxial lobes 3, adaxial 2, smaller; stamens 2[4], equal [didynamous], filaments glabrous; staminode 0; ovary 2-locular, placentation axile; stigma broad, flaplike, or relatively small. Fruits capsules, dehiscence loculicidal. Seeds 12–73[100], brown, flattened, wings absent. x = 5.

Distribution

Asia, Africa, Pacific Islands (New Zealand), Australia.

Discussion

Species 7 or 8 (1 in the flora).

Chromosome counts from New Zealand (E. J. Beuzenberg and J. B. Hair 1983; P. J. de Lange et al. 2004) indicate a base number of x = 5 for Glossostigma. An anomalous count (2n = 32) has been reported for G. diandrum (Linnaeus) Kuntze from Bangladesh (see M. O. Rahman 2006).

Selected References

Les, D. H., R. S. Capers, and N. P. Tippery. 2006. Introduction of Glossostigma (Phrymaceae) to North America: A taxonomic and ecological overview. Amer. J. Bot. 93: 927–939.

Lower Taxa

Glossostigma cleistanthum