Stemodia is a genus of flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

s in the plantain

Plantago

Plantago is a genus of about 200 species of small, inconspicuous plants commonly called plantains. They share this name with the very dissimilar plantain, a kind of banana. Most are herbaceous plants, though a few are subshrubs growing to 60 cm tall. The leaves are sessile, but have a narrow...

 family, Plantaginaceae

Plantaginaceae

Plantaginaceae Juss. or plantain family, are a family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales. The type genus is Plantago L..In older classifications it used to be the only family of the order Plantaginales, but numerous phylogenetic studies, summarized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, have...

. The roughly 20 species it contains are commonly known as twintips. They are found across the tropical Americas

Americas

The Americas, or America , are lands in the Western hemisphere, also known as the New World. In English, the plural form the Americas is often used to refer to the landmasses of North America and South America with their associated islands and regions, while the singular form America is primarily...

 and into the subtropics

Subtropics

The subtropics are the geographical and climatical zone of the Earth immediately north and south of the tropical zone, which is bounded by the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn, at latitudes 23.5°N and 23.5°S...

. These perennials

Perennial plant

A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...

 have toothed leaves and raceme

Raceme

A raceme is a type of inflorescence that is unbranched and indeterminate and bears pedicellate flowers — flowers having short floral stalks called pedicels — along the axis. In botany, axis means a shoot, in this case one bearing the flowers. In a raceme, the oldest flowers are borne...

s of colorful flowers which are usually a shade of purple. This genus is sometimes placed in the families Scrophulariaceae

Scrophulariaceae

Scrophulariaceae, the figwort family, are a family of flowering plants. The plants are annual or perennial herbs with flowers with bilateral or rarely radial symmetry. Members of the Scrophulariaceae have a cosmopolitan distribution, with the majority found in temperate areas, including...

 or Gratiolaceae. The generic name is derived from the Latin

Latin

Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...

 word stemodiacra, which means "stamen

Stamen

The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...

s with two tips."

Selected species

Stemodia coahuilensis – Coahuila twintip Stemodia debilis Stemodia durantifolia Stemodia durantifolia Stemodia durantifolia is a species of flowering plant in the plantain family known by the common name whitewoolly twintip. It is native to parts of the Americas, including Mexico and the deserts of California and Arizona. It grows in riparian habitat. It is a perennial herb producing a hairy,... (L.) Sw. Olof Swartz Olof Peter Swartz was a Swedish botanist and taxonomist. He is best known for his taxonomic work and studies into pteridophytes... – white woolly twintip Stemodia flaccida Stemodia florulenta W.R.Barker – Bluerod Stemodia glabella W.R.Barker – Bluerod Stemodia grossa – Marsh Stemodia Stemodia kingii Stemodia lanata Sessé Martín Sessé y Lacasta Martín Sessé y Lacasta was a Spanish botanist, who relocated to New Spain during the 18th century to study and classify the flora of the territory.-Background:...  & Moc. José Mariano Mociño José Mariano Mociño Suárez Lozano , or simply José Mariano Mociño, was a naturalist from New Spain.After having studied philosophy and medicine, he conducted early research on the ecology , geology, and anthropology of his country and other parts of North America.- Biography :He was born in...  ex Benth. George Bentham George Bentham CMG FRS was an English botanist, characterized by Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century".- Formative years :... – gray woolly twintip Stemodia lathraia

Stemodia linophylla Stemodia lythrifolia – Bunu Bunu Stemodia maritima L. – seaside twintip Stemodia micrantha Stemodia pubescens Stemodia schottii Holz. – Rio Grande twintip Stemodia tephropelina Stemodia verticillata (Mill. Philip Miller Philip Miller FRS was a Scottish botanist.Miller was chief gardener at the Chelsea Physic Garden from 1722 until he was pressured to retire shortly before his death... ) Hassl. – whorled twintip Stemodia viscosa Roxb. William Roxburgh William Roxburgh was a Scottish surgeon and botanist. He has been called the Father of Indian Botany.-Early life:Roxburgh was born at Underwood in the parish of Craigie, Ayrshire. He studied medicine in Edinburgh... – Pagurda

External links

• USDA Plants Profile