Laportea
Voy. Uranie 12: 498. 1830, name conserved.
Herbs, annual or perennial, with stinging and nonstinging hairs on same plant. Stems simple, erect. Leaves alternate; stipules present. Leaf blades narrowly ovate to orbiculate, margins dentate or serrate; cystoliths rounded. Inflorescences axillary and terminal, of paniculately arranged cymes. Flowers unisexual, proximal panicles staminate and distal pistillate, or staminate and pistillate flowers in same panicle; bracts absent. Staminate flowers: tepals 4-5, distinct, equal; stamens 4-5; pistillode knoblike. Pistillate flowers: tepals 2-4, distinct, outer pair minute or absent, without hooked hairs; staminodes absent; style persistent even in fruit, hooklike or elongate; stigma extended along style. Achenes stipitate, laterally compressed, ±orbicular, free from and not enclosed by perianth. x=13.
Distribution
North America, West Indies, Central America, South America, Asia, Africa, Pacific Islands.
Discussion
Species 22 (2 in the flora).
Most species of Laportea occur in Africa and Madagascar.
Selected References
Lower Taxa
Key
| 1 | Plants with stinging hairs and stipitate-glandular hairs; base of leaf blade rounded or abruptly attenuate, auriculate; achenes less than 1.5mm. | Laportea aestuans |
| 1 | Plants with stinging hairs but without stipitate-glandular hairs; base of leaf blade rounded, truncate, or broadly cuneate, not auriculate; achenes 2mm or more. | Laportea canadensis |