| Dicotyledon | Literature for Cuphea carthagenensis
Wagner et al., 1990, 1999. |
| Lythraceae -- The Loosestrife Family | Bibliography |
| Cuphea carthagenensis | |
Common name(s): Colombian cuphea, tarweed |
| General Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Distribution | Native to South America, widely naturalized in Central America, North America, and on Pacific islands.In the Hawaiian Islands, naturalized on Kaua`i, O`ahu, Moloka`i, Lana`i, Maui, Hawai`i. |
|
| Habit |
Annual or perhaps short-lived perennial herbs, sometimes slightly woody at base; stems 1.5-5 cm long, often many-branched, glandular hispid and white puberulent. |
|
| Leaves |
Leaves obovate to elliptic or oblong-elliptic, (10-)20-60 mm long, (8-)12-26 mm wide, apex obtuse, base cuneate, petioles 0-2 mm long. |
|
| Flowers |
Flowers few in terminal and also axillary cymes, pedicels ca. 1 mm long; floral tube green, sometimes becoming reddish, flask-shaped, 4-7 mm long, sparsely hispidulous on nerves, some of the hairs glandular; calyx teeth ovate; petals pale pink or bluish, drying violet, subequal, ca. 1.5 mm long;
stamens included and inserted in 2 unequal whorls near the constriction of the floral tube. |
|
| Fruit |
Capsules ovoid, 1-celled, 3.5-5 mm long. Seeds 4, suborbicular, ca. 2 mm in diameter. |
|
| Chromosomes |
2n = 16 |
|