Subfamily

VII. Subfam. Nepetoideae (Dumort.) Luerss. (1882).

VII. 2. Tribe Mentheae Dumort. (1827).

VII. 2. B. Subtribe Menthinae (Dumort.) Endl. (1838).

Description

Shrub with slender stems, divaricately branched, acutely quadrangular, puberulent; leaves small, coriaceous, dark green, glabrous, gland-dotted, subentire; inflorescence of 3-6-flowered, shortly pedunculate cymes, in axils of bracts, ą reduced towards stem-apex; bracts leaf-like; bracteoles inconspicuous; calyx very weakly 2-lipped, 5-lobed (3/2), posterior lip slightly longer than anterior, lobes deltate-acuminate, subequal or posterior lobes shorter than anterior, ciliate, sparsely hairy within, tube cylindrical, 13-15-nerved, externally densely villous with pale blue hairs (?), mid-tube annulate within; corolla 2-lipped, 5-lobed (2/3), posterior lip 2-lobed, slightly shorter than anterior, flat, tube cylindrical, exserted from calyx, widening above, exannulate and glabrous within; stamens 2, posterior pair absent, filaments directed under posterior corolla-lip, thecae divaricate, distinct; style glabrous; stigma-lobes slightly unequal. One species, E. rubiaceus (Benth.) Schmidt, southern Brasil: Minas Gerais. Montane. Only known from type collection and possibly extinct.

Distribution

Native to:

84 Brazil

Publication

Eriothymus (Benth.) Schmidt, in Martius, Fl. Brasil. 8: 171, t. 32, f. 2 (1858).

Keithia sect. Eriothymus Benth. (1834).

Hedeoma sect. Eriothymus (Benth.) Briq. (1897).

Image resource

Š Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

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