GESNERIACEAE Chrysothemis

Chrysothemis [genus] (567)
C. friedrichsthaliana (1,027)

GESNERIACEAE Chrysothemis

Chrysothemis [genus] Decne. GESNERIACEAE

Trop. Am.; 7 spp. Tuberous per. herbs. Lvs. opp., equal, toothed. Fls. in few-fld. axillary cymes, calyx tubular, sometimes angled, lobes much shorter than tube, corolla cylindrical, limb spreading, short, lobes rounded, stamens 4, filaments united to each other and to the corolla basally, anthers united, disc of a single sometimes 2-lobed gland at the back of the ovary, ovary superior. Fruit a globose capsule (Hortus Third 1976: 270). Valid genus (GRIN 2006)

GESNERIACEAE Chrysothemis friedrichsthaliana

Chrysothemis friedrichsthaliana (Hanst.) H.E.Moore GESNERIACEAE

Cent. Am., W Colombia. Stems to 1 ft. Lvs. oblong to lanceolate to 1 ft. long 5” wide, decurrent on petiole, thin, with short pale hairs. Peduncles 3- or more-fld. to 1” long, calyx 5-angled and seemingly winged, inflated at base, 0.8” long, green or yellow, lobes triangular, broader than long, corolla to 1.5” long, orange to yellowish, lobes faintly red-striped (Hortus Third 1976: 270). Tuberous ornamental herbs. Dispersed by ants, since seeds have elaiosomes [oil glands] (Mabberley 1998: 157) Erect herb. Fls borne in flat clusters on stalks 1 cm long. Wild but not abundant in moist forests, Atl. side of Costa Rica. In Panama the Choco & Cuna Indians use the plant for snakebite. Choco also use it for diarrhea (Morton 1981: Vol. 2 page 836). Name not in GRIN (GRIN 2006)

Bibliography:
GRIN. 2006. USDA, ARS, National Genetic Resources Program. http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/paper.pl (15 August 2006).
Hortus Third. 1976. Hortus Third: A Concise Dictionary of Plants Cultivated in the United States and Canada. Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., New York NY.
Mabberley, D. 1998. The Plant-Book., 2nd edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Gt. Britain.
Morton, J. F. 1981. Atlas of Medicinal Plants of Middle America, Bahamas to Yucatan. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield IL.