Hewittia
Accepted name/Authority/Place of publication:
HEWITTIA Wight & Arnott, Madras J. Lit. Sci., ser. 1, 5: 22. 1837.
Tribe:
Merremieae
Synonyms:
Shutereia Choisy, Mém. Soc. Phys. Genève 6: 485 [Conv. Orient. 103]. 1834, nom. illeg. non Shuteria Wight & Arnott (1834), Fabaceae.
Palmia Endl., Gen. Pl. 653. 1839.
Eremosperma Chiov., Fl. Somalia 3: 143. 1936.
Type Species:
Hewittia bicolor Wight & arnott, nom. illeg. [=H. malabarica (L.) Suresh].
Habit:
Twining or prostrate herbs.
Leaves:
Leaves petiolate, base usually cordate, margin entire, angular, or lobed.
Inflorescences:
Inflorescences axillary, long-pedunculate, 1- to few-flowered cymes; bracts 2, leaf-like, borne below calyx, persistent.
Flowers:
Flowers erect; sepals 5, apex acute, outer 3 sepals ovate, accrescent with prominent veins in fruit; inner 2 sepals smaller; corolla campanulate or funnelform, limb shallowly 5-lobed; stamens included, filaments dilated basally, adnate to corolla tube, free distally, filiform; pollen not spiny; pistil included, disc ring-like, ovary 1-celled or imperfectly 2-celled apically, 4-ovuled, style 1, filiform, stigmas 2, ovate-oblong, flattened.
Pollen:
pollen not spiny.
Fruits:
Capsule globose, 4-valved, pilose, protruding from reflexed calyx.
Seeds:
Seeds 4 or fewer, trigonous.
Distribution:
Tropical Africa and Asia, Jamaica. map
Number of Species:
2
References:
Ooststr., Blumea 3: 286. 1939.
Ooststr., Fl. Males. I, 4: 438. 1953.
Songkhla & Khunwasi, Thai Forest Bull. (Bot.) 20: 21. 1993.
R.C. Fang & Staples in C.Y. Wu & P.H. Raven, Fl. China 16: 285. 1995.
Staples & Noltie, Taxon 56: 262. 2007.
Contributors:
The generic name Hewittia proved to be illegitimate and has been proposed for conservation (Staples & Noltie, 2007).