2. Turnera Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 1: 271. 1753; Gen. Pl. ed. 5, 131. 1754.
Turnera [For William Turner, 1515–1568, English botanist] Turnera [For William Turner, 1515–1568, English botanist]
Herbs, subshrubs, or shrubs [trees], hairs glandular and simple [stellate], glandular hairs sessile-capitate or microcapitate. Leaves petiolate or sessile, often with nectaries; stipules present or absent. Inflorescences axillary; peduncle free or adnate to petiole (flowers epiphyllous); prophylls persistent. Pedicels absent. Flowers mostly distylous; sepals at least 1/3 connate; petals yellow or white [salmon, pink, orange, or red], sometimes with dark basal spot; corona absent; filaments often with nectaries; anthers dorsifixed or basifixed. Capsules granulose, rugose, or verrucose [smooth]. Seeds reticulate [striate]. x = 5, 7, (13).
Species 142 (3 in the flora): sc, se United States, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Africa.
I. Urban (1883) divided Turnera into nine series, and M. M. Arbo (2008) added two. Phylogenetic studies (S. Truyens et al. 2005; Arbo and S. M. Espert 2009) indicate that it is monophyletic.
Turnera subulata Smith, with a dark basal spot in the yellow petals, has been collected twice, probably as a garden escape, in Miami-Dade County, southern Florida.
SELECTED REFERENCES Arbo, M. M. 2000. Estudios sistemáticos en Turnera (Turneraceae). II. Series Annulares, Capitatae, Microphyllae y Papilliferae. Bonplandia (Corrientes) 10: 1–82. Arbo, M. M. 2005. Estudios sistemáticos en Turnera (Turneraceae). III. Series Anomalae y Turnera. Bonplandia (Corrientes) 14: 115–318. Arbo, M. M. 2008. Estudios sistemáticos en Turnera (Turneraceae). IV. Series Leiocarpae, Conciliatae y Sessilifoliae. Bonplandia (Corrientes) 17: 107–334. Arbo, M. M. and S. M. Espert. 2009. Morphology, phylogeny and biogeography of Turnera L. (Turneraceae). Taxon 58: 457–467. Arbo, M. M. and S. M. Mazza. 2011. The major diversity centre for neotropical Turneraceae. Syst. Biodivers. 9: 203–210. Truyens, S., M. M. Arbo, and J. S. Shore. 2005. Phylogenetic relationships, chromosome and breeding system evolution in Turnera (Turneraceae): Inferences from ITS sequence data. Amer. J. Bot. 92: 1749–1758.
