[Arabic name for a species of mandrake]

Michael A. Vincent

Herbs, perennial [annual, biennial], rhizomatous, glabrous [pubescent]. Stems prostrate to ascending, branched. Leaves alternate; blade margins entire or denticulate [lobed, pinnatisect, bipinnatisect]. Inflorescences axillary, solitary or fascicled flowers. Flowers 5-merous; calyx ± accrescent, campanulate, lobes 5, as long as or longer than tube; corolla white [yellow or purple], radial, salverform [rotate, campanulate, urceolate, cylindric], lobes acute to acuminate, flaring to reflexed; stamens inserted centrally or distally on corolla tube, equal; anthers dorsifixed, ellipsoidal, dehiscing by longitudinal slits; ovary 2–5-carpellate; style filiform; stigma capitate or 2–5-lobed. Fruits berries, subglobose-compressed, juicy. Seeds globose-reniform. x = 12.

Species 23 (1 in the flora): introduced; South America.

Species of Jaborosa are sometimes cultivated as ornamentals, dating back to the mid-nineteenth century (J. D. Wilson 1851). Jaborosa is a source of withanolides, which may be useful as insecticides (J. C. Oberti 1998).

Lower Taxon

• Jaborosa integrifolia Lamarck in J. Lamarck et al.