Left:
Ying T.S. et al., The
endemic genera of seed plants in China, Fig. 108 (1993), with permission.
Right: cult. RBG Edinburgh, phot. A. Weber
(1998)
Chiritopsis W.T.Wang, Bull. Bot. Res., Harbin, 1: 21 (21 July 1981), trans. & reimp. in Contr. New York Bot. Gard. 16: 5, 25 (1986).
Etymology: Composed of the generic name Chirita and the Greek suffix -όψις, -opsis = looking like, similar to.
Synonyms: -
Infrafamilial position: Didymocarpoid Gesneriaceae - "Advanced Asiatic and Malesian genera" (Weber 2004).
Description: Perennial rosette herbs with stout rhizome. Leaves with long petiole, lamina elliptic, rhomboid-ovate, rhomboid or suborbicular, undivided or bipinnatifid, both surfaces puberulous. Cymes pedunculate, several-flowered, bracteoles narrow lanceolate. Sepals free to base, lanceolate. Corolla pale yellow or white, tubular, bilabiate, upper lip 2-lobed, lower lip 3-lobed, lobes rounded. Stamens 2, glabrous; filaments inserted near base of corolla tube, slightly curved; anthers coherent, confluent at apex; staminodes 2 or 3. Nectary annular or interrupted. Ovary ovoid, style long, slender; stigma bilobed, with enlarged and sometimes bilobed lower lip. Capsule ovoid, loculicidally dehiscent.
Chromosome number: Unknown.
Species number: 9.
Species names (incl. publication and synonyms): See Skog, L.E. & J.K. Boggan. 2005: World checklist of Gesneriaceae: http://persoon.si.edu/Gesneriaceae/Checklist.
Type species: Chiritopsis repanda W.T.Wang
Distribution: S China (Guangxi, N Guangdong and S Anhui).
Ecology: On rocks along streams and in wet valleys, 100-500 m.
Notes: Stigma shape suggests a closer affinity with Chirita, from which the genus differs by the small flowers and the short, ovoid capsule.
Selected references: Wang et al. in Wu & Raven (eds.), Fl. China 18: 345-348 (1998).
Bibliography: See Skog, L.E. & J.K. Boggan. 2005. Bibliography of the Gesneriaceae. 2nd edition: http://persoon.si.edu/Gesneriaceae/Bibliography.
Illustrations:
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Chiritopsis repanda W.T.Wang, type species
Left:
Ying T.S. et al., The
endemic genera of seed plants in China, Fig. 108 (1993), with permission. |
last modified: 2007-06-13