Common Name: HELIOTROPE FAMILY
Habit: Annual or perennial herb [shrub, tree, woody vine], generally hairy, often bristly or strigose and/or glandular. Stem: prostrate to erect, branched. Leaf: simple, alternate, generally entire; stipules 0. Inflorescence: 1-many cymes, generally coiled, or flowers 1. Flower: generally bisexual, generally radial; calyx lobes 5, generally free to base; corolla lobes 5, fused, generally rotate or bell-shaped, appendages 0; stamens 5, epipetalous; ovary superior, subtended by disk-like nectary, chambers generally 4, style terminal, stigmatic head conical with basal ring-shaped stigma and sterile tip. Fruit: dry or fleshy, generally 4-seeded, sometimes separating into 1--4 nutlets.
Genera In Family: 4 genera, +- 450 species; worldwide distribution, especially in tropics and subtropics. Note: Included in Boraginaceae in TJM2 and some other treatments (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group IV 2016 Bot Linn Soc 181:1--20) but treated as separate family by Boraginales Working Group (Luebert et al. 2016).
eFlora Treatment Author: Michael G. Simpson