The World Flora Online

Herbs annual or perennial [rarely epiphytic or subshrubs]. Stems erect or procumbent, usually succulent, often rooting at lower nodes. Leaves simple, alternate, opposite, or verticillate, not stipulate, or sometimes with stipular glands at base of petiole, petiolate or sessile, pinnately veined, margin serrate to nearly entire, teeth often glandular-mucronate. Flowers bisexual, protandrous, zygomorphic, resupinate to through 180° in axillary or subterminal racemes or pseudo-umbellate inflorescences, or not pedunculate, fascicled or solitary. Sepals 3(or 5); lateral sepals free or connate, margins entire or serrate; lower sepal (lip) large, petaloid, usually navicular, funnelform, saccate, or cornute, tapering or abruptly constricted into a nectariferous spur broadly or narrowly filiform, straight, curved, incurved, or ± coiled, swollen at tip, or pointed, rarely 2-lobed, rarely without spur. Petals 5, free, upper petal (standard) flat or cucullate, small or large, often crested abaxially, lateral petals free or united in pairs (wing). Stamens 5, alternating with petals, connate or nearly so into a ring surrounding ovary and stigma, falling off in one piece before stigma ripens; filaments short, flat with a scalelike appendage inside; anthers 2-celled, connivent, opening by a slit or pore. Gynoecium 4- or 5-carpellate, syncarpous; ovary superior, 4- or 5-loculed, each locule with 2 to many anatropous ovules; style 1, very short or ± absent; stigmas 1-5. Fruit an indehiscent berry, or a 4- or 5-valved loculicidal fleshy capsule, usually dehiscing elastically. Seeds dispersed explosively from opening valves, without endosperm; testa smooth or tuberculate.

Petals 3, the upper one outside, usually erect, concave, the lateral ones often 2-lobed Succulent herbs; leaves alternate or opposite, simple, penninerved; stipules absent Sepals 3, rarely 5, coloured, imbricate, unequal, the lowermost hollowed out into a spur Flowers zygomorphic, hermaphrodite, brightly coloured, solitary to subumbellate Stamens 5; filaments short and broad; anthers 2-celled, connate around the ovary Fruit a succulent capsule, opening elastically into 5 twisted valves Ovary superior, 5-celled, with axile placentas; stigmas 1–5, more or less sessile; ovules numerous Seeds without endosperm and with straight embryo Succulent herbs; leaves alternate or opposite, simple, penninerved; stipules absent Sepals 3, rarely 5, coloured, imbricate, unequal, the lowermost hollowed out into a spur Flowers zygomorphic, hermaphrodite, brightly coloured, solitary to subumbellate Stamens 5; filaments short and broad; anthers 2-celled, connate around the ovary Fruit a succulent capsule, opening elastically into 5 twisted valves Ovary superior, 5-celled, with axile placentas; stigmas 1–5, more or less sessile; ovules numerous Seeds without endosperm and with straight embryo

Herbes'annuelles, vivaces, rarement sous-arbustes.'Feuilles'alternes, opposées ou verticillées, pétiolées ou subsessiles, penninerves; limbe crénelé ou denté, muni entre ou sur les crénelures ou les dents de cils ± longs, parfois glanduleux.'Inflorescences'axillaires, rarement extra-axillaires, en fascicules, ombelles, pseudo-ombelles ou racèmes, ou rieurs axillaires solitaires.'Fleurs'☿, zygomorphes; sépales 3(5) : sépales latéraux 2(4); sépale postérieur ou labelle conchiforme, cymbiforme, infundibuliforme, en forme de tuba ou sacciforme, généralement terminé par un éperon; pétales 5, les 4 latéraux ± concrescents, par paires en 2 ailes parfois partiellement soudées entre elles, le 5e ou étendard, dorsal dans les fleurs épanouies, caréné, souvent muni d'une crête1 parfois aliforme, ou pétales tous libres ( Hydrocera ) ; étamines 5, alternipétales; filets ± longuement cohérents dans la partie supérieure; anthères cohérentes et formant capuchon au-dessus de l'ovaire; ovaire supère, oblong, 5-loculaire; style court; stigmate 5-lobé; ovules (2)3-∞ par loge.'Fruits': capsules ovoïdes, ellipsoïdes ou claviformes, déhiscentes élastiquement en 5 valves projetant les graines en s'enroulant, ou indéhiscentes et bacciformes ( Hydrocera ).'Graines exalbuminées; cotylédons charnus; radicule apicale.\n\t\t\tFamille comprenant 2 genres et ± 500 espèces, surtout des régions tropicales et subtropicales de l'Ancien Monde sauf d'Australie et de Polynésie; les centres principaux de dispersion se trouvant en Asie et en Afrique tropicale; quelques espèces dans les régions tempérées.

Annual or perennial herbs, sometimes with a tuberous or rhizomatous rootstock, occasionally subshrubby, sometimes epiphytic or semi-aquatic, usually growing in moist places in partial or complete shade, but never in dry places; stems usually succulent, rarely woody below, glabrous or pilose, upright or procumbent, often rooting at the lower nodes Leaves simple, petiolate to sometimes sessile, spirally arranged, opposite or verticillate, pinnately veined, glabrous or pilose (hairs simple, multicellular); margins crenate, dentate or serrate, the teeth often with glanduliferous appendages, these sometimes fimbriate or filiform towards the base of the lamina; petiole occasionally with short capitate glands or fimbriae (extra-floral nectaries), usually in the upper half; exstipulate or with simple or branched glandular stipule-like structures Flowers (fig. 1) bisexual, zygomorphic, resupinate through 180°, in simple or pseudoumbellate racemes forming axillary, rarely subterminal, inflorescences, or flowers often epedunculate, fascicled or solitary; bracts entire, rarely toothed; bracteoles occasionally present Sepals 3, rarely 5, the lateral ones small, entire or toothed, the lower one (lower by resupination) large, navicular, funnel-shaped or saccate, tapering or abruptly constricted into a nectariferous spur which may be short- or long-filiform, straight, curved or incurved, or ± coiled, swollen at the tip or pointed, rarely bilobed or digitately lobed, often coloured Petals 5, usually coloured, sometimes white, thin and sappy; the dorsal one (dorsal by resupination) small or large, flat or cucullate, often crested dorsally; lower petals free or united into lateral pairs at or below the middle (the lateral-united petals), the petals of each pair overlapping or with a narrow or wide sinus between them, the upper petals bilobed, emarginate or entire, as large as the lower petals or smaller, sometimes reduced to a tiny lobe, the lower petals seldom reduced, usually large or showy, bilobed, emarginate or entire, sometimes asymmetrically bilobed, the inner lobe occasionally drawn out into a long tapering appendage, sometimes emarginate along the inner margin Stamens 5, alternating with the petals, connate or subconnate into a ring surrounding the ovary and stigma, falling off in one piece before the stigma ripens Ovary superior, 5-locular, with exile placentation; ovules anatropous, 3–many; style 1, very short or ± absent; stigmas 1–5 Fruit a berry or a 5-valved loculicidal fleshy explosive capsule, the valves opening and coiling elastically to expel the seeds, glabrous or variously pubescent Seed without endosperm, the testa smooth, warted or with simple, 1–many celled, hairs Leaves simple, petiolate to sometimes sessile, spirally arranged, opposite or verticillate, pinnately veined, glabrous or pilose (hairs simple, multicellular); margins crenate, dentate or serrate, the teeth often with glanduliferous appendages, these sometimes fimbriate or filiform towards the base of the lamina; petiole occasionally with short capitate glands or fimbriae (extra-floral nectaries), usually in the upper half; exstipulate or with simple or branched glandular stipule-like structures Flowers (fig. 1) bisexual, zygomorphic, resupinate through 180°, in simple or pseudoumbellate racemes forming axillary, rarely subterminal, inflorescences, or flowers often epedunculate, fascicled or solitary; bracts entire, rarely toothed; bracteoles occasionally present Sepals 3, rarely 5, the lateral ones small, entire or toothed, the lower one (lower by resupination) large, navicular, funnel-shaped or saccate, tapering or abruptly constricted into a nectariferous spur which may be short- or long-filiform, straight, curved or incurved, or ± coiled, swollen at the tip or pointed, rarely bilobed or digitately lobed, often coloured Petals 5, usually coloured, sometimes white, thin and sappy; the dorsal one (dorsal by resupination) small or large, flat or cucullate, often crested dorsally; lower petals free or united into lateral pairs at or below the middle (the lateral-united petals), the petals of each pair overlapping or with a narrow or wide sinus between them, the upper petals bilobed, emarginate or entire, as large as the lower petals or smaller, sometimes reduced to a tiny lobe, the lower petals seldom reduced, usually large or showy, bilobed, emarginate or entire, sometimes asymmetrically bilobed, the inner lobe occasionally drawn out into a long tapering appendage, sometimes emarginate along the inner margin Stamens 5, alternating with the petals, connate or subconnate into a ring surrounding the ovary and stigma, falling off in one piece before the stigma ripens Ovary superior, 5-locular, with exile placentation; ovules anatropous, 3–many; style 1, very short or ± absent; stigmas 1–5 Fruit a berry or a 5-valved loculicidal fleshy explosive capsule, the valves opening and coiling elastically to expel the seeds, glabrous or variously pubescent Seed without endosperm, the testa smooth, warted or with simple, 1–many celled, hairs

Fls perfect, hypogynous, resupinate, strongly irregular; sep 3(5), the lowest one (as seen) somewhat petaloid and often saccate, produced backward into a slender spur-nectary; upper petal (as seen) distinct, external in bud, concave and often partly sepaloid, the 4 others distinct or connate into 2 lateral pairs; nectary-disk wanting; stamens 5, the short, thick filaments connate at least above, and the short anthers connate or connivent, the androecium forming a deciduous calyptra over the ovary; carpels (4)5, united to form a compound, plurilocular ovary with axile placentas, a short style, and a single stigma or 5 stigmas; ovules pendulous, apotropous; fr a loculicidal, explosive capsule or a berry-like drupe; embryo straight, with a short hypocotyl and 2 expanded cotyledons; endosperm scanty or none; mostly herbs, commonly subsucculent, with simple, entire or merely toothed, pinnately veined lvs, the stipules represented only by a pair of small petiolar glands, or wanting. Only Impatiens and the monospecific Hydrocera of India and Java.

Ovary superior, of 5 carpels, 5-locular, with axile placentation; ovules pendulous, anatropous, 3-many in a row on each placenta; style 1, usually very short; stigmas 1–5 Seeds without endosperm; embryo straight Fruit a 5-valved loculicidal capsule, with the valves opening elastically and coiling, rarely a berry (in the Asiatic genus Hydrocera) Petals 5; the anterior one (apparently posterior in position in the mature flower) always large, flat or helmet-shaped, often dorsally carinate; the 4 lower ones usually connate in lateral pairs, very rarely free, usually deeply 2-lobed, rarely with the posterior lobe reduced to a small auricle Stamens 5, alternating with the petals; filaments flattened, connate above, closely attached to the ovary; anthers 2-thecous, connate or coherent, thus forming a crown round the ovary Flowers bisexual, sometimes cleistogamous (often in certain species with both normal and cleistogamous ones in the same inflorescence), always zygomorphic Sepals 3, rarely 5, deciduous, imbricate; the posterior one (apparently anterior in position by resupination) petaloid, large, funnel-shaped, obliquely navicular or bucciniform, nearly always with a nectariferous spur; the lateral ones usually small, green or coloured Leaves simple, petiolate or sessile, verticillate or opposite or spirally arranged, pinnately veined with margins crenulate or serrate or denticulate and often with glanduliferous (tentacle-like) hairs; exstipulate or with stipular glands Inflorescences usually axillary, more rarely of terminal racemes or pseudumbels or fascicles, or flowers solitary Herbs, often with a suffrutescent habit, sometimes epiphytic, sometimes aquatic, glabrous or with an indumentum of simple hairs; stems herbaceous, succulent or rarely woody Seeds without endosperm; embryo straight Fruit a 5-valved loculicidal capsule, with the valves opening elastically and coiling, rarely a berry (in the Asiatic genus Hydrocera) Petals 5; the anterior one (apparently posterior in position in the mature flower) always large, flat or helmet-shaped, often dorsally carinate; the 4 lower ones usually connate in lateral pairs, very rarely free, usually deeply 2-lobed, rarely with the posterior lobe reduced to a small auricle Stamens 5, alternating with the petals; filaments flattened, connate above, closely attached to the ovary; anthers 2-thecous, connate or coherent, thus forming a crown round the ovary Flowers bisexual, sometimes cleistogamous (often in certain species with both normal and cleistogamous ones in the same inflorescence), always zygomorphic Sepals 3, rarely 5, deciduous, imbricate; the posterior one (apparently anterior in position by resupination) petaloid, large, funnel-shaped, obliquely navicular or bucciniform, nearly always with a nectariferous spur; the lateral ones usually small, green or coloured Leaves simple, petiolate or sessile, verticillate or opposite or spirally arranged, pinnately veined with margins crenulate or serrate or denticulate and often with glanduliferous (tentacle-like) hairs; exstipulate or with stipular glands Inflorescences usually axillary, more rarely of terminal racemes or pseudumbels or fascicles, or flowers solitary Herbs, often with a suffrutescent habit, sometimes epiphytic, sometimes aquatic, glabrous or with an indumentum of simple hairs; stems herbaceous, succulent or rarely woody