Drymaria cordata

Primary tabs

Drymaria cordata

Description

Annual herb to 45 cm long, erect to prostrate; stems branched, angled, often rooting at nodes, glabrous to densely glandular-puberulent. Petiole filiform, 2-15 mm long; stipules membranous, multilacerate, to 2 mm long; blade orbicular, ovate-orbicular or reniform, 5-25 x 5-30 mm, obtuse or acute and mucronulate at apex, round to cordate at base, glabrous or puberulent. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, few-flowered dichasial cymes, lax; pedicels 2-15 mm long, densely stipitate-glandular puberulent. Sepals 5, ovate, oblong-lanceolate or lanceolate, 2.5-3.5 mm long, glabrous except for stipitate-glandular puberulent midvein; petals 5, white, deeply clawed and bifid, shorter than calyx, 2-3 mm long, lobes linear; stamens 2-3(-5), filaments ca. 2 mm long; ovary ovoid, styles 3, 0.5-1 mm long. Capsule ovoid, slightly shorter than calyx, 1.5-2.5 mm long, shortly pedicellate; seeds 1-12, cochleate, 1.0-1.5 mm long, dark reddish-brown or black, densely tuberculate in lines.

Distribution

Guianas present, tropics and subtropics of Old and New Worlds present
Widely distributed in the tropics and subtropics of Old and New Worlds; 24 collections studied, all from the Guianas (GU: 4; SU: 10; FG: 10).

Common Name

Creole (French Guiana): mignonette, petit quinine, timignonette; English (Suriname): piki fowroesopo

Uses

The plant is used in a medicinal bath for children in French Guiana.