美洲马(瓜交)儿属 mei zhou ma jiao er shu

Authors: Anmin Lu & Charles Jeffrey

Landersia Macfadyen.

Herbs, climbing or trailing, annual. Leaves petiolate, usually palmately lobed. Tendrils simple. Plants monoecious. Male flowers shortly racemose or subcorymbose; calyx campanulate to cylindrical, 5-lobed; corolla yellow, rotate; segments 5; stamens 3, inserted above middle of tube; anthers two 2-celled, one 1-celled; anther cells straight or slightly curved; connective not produced; rudimentary ovary subglobose. Female flowers solitary, usually coaxillary with male flowers; calyx and corolla as in male flowers; ovary globose to fusiform, 3-locular; ovules numerous, horizontal; style surrounded at base by an annular disk; stigmas 3. Fruit globose to oblong. Seeds numerous, compressed, smooth.

About 12 species: Neotropics; one species (introduced) in China.

Lower Taxon

• Melothria pendula Linnaeus