Schwartzia

Description

Schwartzia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Marcgraviaceae. It is found in tropical parts of South America, mainly within the rainforest. It has greenish, white, reddish or red coloured flowers. They are sprawling shrubs, lianas, and sometimes small trees. The leaves are spirally arranged, sessile (without a stalk) or petiolate (having a leaf stalk). They are coriaceous (leathery or stiff and tough), It has inflorescences which are short racemes with between 8-60 flowers, (though Schwartzia brasiliensis has long racemes of between 60-300 flowers). They have straight, rarely geniculate (bent at a sharp angle), slender or stout, and elongated pedicels (flower stalks), which are between 1.4–9 cm (1–4 in), depending on the species. The nectaries are adnate (grown from or closely fused to an organ) to the lower third of the pedicel, mostly stipitate (stalked or borne on a stipe), cup-like, sac-like or boat shaped. The flowers have 5 sepals and 5 petals, which are connate (or fused to another organ) and greenish, white, reddish or red in colour shades. The 5 imbricated (or tiled, overlapping) sepals are generally circular in shape. They form a quincunx and are coriaceous (leathery, stiff and tough). The 5 petals are free to variously connate, imbricate in bud and strongly reflexed (bent) at anthesis (after flowering). It has 12 - 85 stamens, with the filaments (stamen stalks) mostly free or the outer whorl basally adnate (fused together) to the corolla, linear, flattened or somewhat triangular. The anthers are approximately sagittate (arrowhead-shaped), or heart-shaped. The thecae are elongated. The ovary has 3 or 5 fused carpels, or seed chambers and few to numerous ovules per locule or chamber. The stigma is smooth or slightly capitate (like the head of a pin) or radiate. After flowering it produces a leathery looking, fruit or seed caspule, which is almost globose (spherical) or berry-like (when immature). When ripe, they are often red or orange in color or just suffused with red. The fruits are sometimes also referred to as 'berries'. Inside the capule, the seeds are reniform (kidney-shaped) to hemispheric. The testa (seed coat) is reticulate (net-like) and red-black or glossy, shiny black. The flowers of the various Schwartzia species are visited by bees, wasps, ants and also, butterflies.