Leptoboea

Full name and orig. publication: Leptoboea Benth., in Benth. & Hook.f., Gen. pl. 2: 1025 (May 1876) ("Leptobaea").

Etymology: Composed of the Greek λεπτος, leptos = thin, and the generic name Boea. The name alludes to the thin, filiform peduncles of the flowers.

Synonym: Championia C.B.Clarke (1874), non Gardner (1846).

Infrafamilial position: Didymocarpoid Gesneriaceae - "Basal Asiatic genera” (Weber 2004).

Description: Terrestrial shrubs with branched stems. Branches spongy. Leaves opposite, those of a pair equal or subequal, usually clustered on short branches; petiole short, lamina ovate, apex acute, base broadly cuneate. Cymes axillary, peduncles and pedicels filiform, 3-5-flowered, umbellate. Sepals free to base, equal. Corolla shallowly campanulate, tube slightly longer than limb, limb obscurely bilabiate, lobes (sub)equal, rounded. Stamens 4, inserted at corolla base, included, anthers free, basifixed, thecae subparallel, confluent at apex, dehiscing apically; staminode present. Nectary absent. Ovary ovoid, with parietal placentae; stigma capitate. Capsule straight, linear, much longer than calyx, dehiscence septicidal, eventually also loculicidal.

Chromosome number: Unknown.

Species number: 2(-3) [L. multiflora (C.B.Clarke) Gamble, with 2 subspp., ? L. glabra C.B.Clarke, L. pubescens C.B.Clarke, nom. nud.] (probably more, not yet described).

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: Leptoboea multiflora (C.B.Clarke) Gamble

Distribution: Bhutan, N and NE India, China (Yunnan), Myanmar, Thailand. 

Ecology: Occurring on hills and mountains.

Notes: The genus is still little known. Remarkable is the septicidal (finally also loculicidal) dehiscence of the capsules.

Selected references: Wang et al. in Wu & Raven (eds.), Fl. China 18: 286-287 (1998), reg. rev.; Hilliard in Grierson & Long, Fl. Bhutan 2(3): 1323-1324 (2001); Burtt, Thai Forest Bull. (Botany) 29: 81-109 (2001), annot. checklist, new subsp. (Thailand).

Bibliography: See Skog, L.E. & J.K. Boggan. 2005. Bibliography of the Gesneriaceae. 2^nd edition: http://persoon.si.edu/Gesneriaceae/Bibliography.

Illustrations:

Leptoboea multiflora (C.B.Clarke) Gamble, type species Left: C.B. Clarke, Comm. & Cyrtandr. Beng., t. 68 (1874), as Championia multiflora, original illustration Right: Wang et al., Fl. reipubl. Sin. 69, t. 64 (1990)

last modified: 2007-01-05