Silverhead [abridged from old Latin name Bulutaparon]

Steven E. Clemants

Herbs, annual or perennial. Stems procumbent or creeping. Leaves opposite, amplexicaul, sessile; blade linear to narrowly obovate, thick, fleshy, margins entire, glabrous except in axils. Inflorescences solitary, terminal, pedunculate, globose or cylindric heads; bracts and bracteoles chartaceous. Flowers bisexual; tepals 5, distinct; stamens 5; filaments connate basally; anthers 2-locular; pseudostaminodes absent; ovule 1; styles 0.2 mm; stigmas 2-3, subulate. Utricles somewhat compressed, broadly ovoid, coriaceous, indehiscent. Seeds 1, dark brown, orbicular.

Species 4 (1 in the flora): mostly littoral in tropical and subtropical America (including Galápagos Islands), Asia (s Japan), w Africa.

SELECTED REFERENCE

Mears, J. A. 1982. A summary of Blutaparon Rafinesque including species earlier known as Philoxerus R. Brown. Taxon 31: 111-117.

Lower Taxon

• Blutaparon vermiculare (Linnaeus) Mears