Herbs, annual, viscid-pubescent, hairs sparse, scurfy, taproot fleshy. Stems branched. Leaves alternate, clustered at tips of branches, petiolate to subsessile. Inflorescences axillary, solitary flowers or 2–4-flowered clusters. Flowers 5-merous; calyx accrescent, tubular, lobes 5, narrowly triangular, slightly unequal, investing, not enclosing berry; corolla cream with purplish tinge, radial, tubular, 5-lobed; stamens inserted at base of corolla tube, ± unequal; anthers basifixed, globose, dehiscing by longitudinal slits; ovary 2-carpellate; style slender, slightly curved; stigma blunt. Fruits berries, globose, dry. Seeds flattened, reniform, margin hyaline.

Distribution

w United States.

Discussion

Species 1.

Oryctes is monospecific and, because of the accrescent fruiting calyx, has been included among the genera surrounding Physalis. It is distinctive in having a tubular corolla and hyaline-margined seeds. A. T. Hunziker (2001) included Oryctes in Physalideae Miers subtribe Iochrominae Reveal; molecular data (R. G. Olmstead et al. 2008) support its relationship to genera near Physalis in Physalideae.

Selected References

None.

Lower Taxa

Oryctes nevadensis