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The Western Australian Herbarium’s collections management system, WAHerb, and DBCA’s flora taxonomic names application, WACensus, have been set to read-only mode since 1 October 2025. Recent taxonomic changes are not currently being reflected in Florabase, herbarium collections, or the census. Due to the rapidly approaching holiday season and associated agency and facility soft closures, along with the substantial work involved in data mapping, cleaning, and verification, the migration to the new collection management software is not expected to occur before 1 March 2026, when a further update will be provided. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or concerns.

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Guettarda L.

This name is not current. Find out more information on related names.

Reference
Sp.Pl. [Linnaeus] 2:991 (1753)
Name Status
Not Current

Scientific Description

Family Rubiaceae.

Habit and leaf form. Trees, or shrubs. Plants spiny, or unarmed. Young stems tetragonal. Helophytic, or mesophytic, or xerophytic. Leaves medium-sized to very large; opposite, or whorled; 3 per whorl; petiolate; connate (via the stipules), or not connate; gland-dotted, or not gland-dotted; simple; epulvinate. Leaf blades entire; one-veined, or pinnately veined; cross-venulate. Leaves with stipules. Stipules interpetiolar, or intrapetiolar; free or connate; simple; with colleters (secreting mucilage), or without colleters; caducous, or persistent. Leaf blade margins entire, or serrate. Leaves without a persistent basal meristem. Domatia recorded, or not recorded; represented by pits, or pockets, or hair tufts. Leaf anatomy. Hairs present, or absent. Stem anatomy. Nodes unilacunar, or tri-lacunar. Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers hermaphrodite, or hermaphrodite and functionally male, or hermaphrodite and functionally female. Unisexual flowers present, or absent. Plants hermaphrodite, or polygamodioecious. Plants heterostylous (the heterostyly of G. speciosa the incomplete type, where the stigma reaches different heights within the tube but the anthers are in only slightly different positions). Entomophilous. Pollination mechanism conspicuously specialized (with passive pollen presentation involving stylar modification), or unspecialized.

Inflorescence and flower features. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’ (mostly secundly arranged in pedunculate apically dichotomously branched inflorescences, rarely in groups of 2–3), or solitary (rarely). The terminal inflorescence unit cymose. Inflorescences axillary. Flowers very shortly pedicellate to sessile; bracteolate, or ebracteolate; small to large; fragrant; regular; 4–11 merous; cyclic; tetracyclic. Free hypanthium present, or absent (depending on interpretation). Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 8–22; 2 -whorled; the two whorls isomerous. Calyx (4–)5–6(–11); 1 -whorled; gamosepalous (shortly tubular,globose or ovoid); entire, or lobed (then 2–9-toothed); open in bud; regular. Corolla (4–)5–6(–11); 1 -whorled; gamopetalous; imbricate (or subvalvate); salver-shaped or funnel-shaped; regular; hairy abaxially; white, or cream, or yellow, or red to purple, or pink (tinged). Fertile stamens present, or absent (when flower female). Androecium 4–11. Androecial members adnate (to the corolla tube); free of one another; 1 -whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 4–11. Staminal insertion in the throat of the corolla tube. Stamens remaining included; isomerous with the perianth; oppositisepalous; with sessile anthers, or filantherous (then filaments very short). Anthers cohering, or connivent, or separate from one another; linear; dorsifixed; dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse; tetrasporangiate. Pollen shed as single grains. Fertile gynoecium present, or absent (when flower male). Gynoecium 2–9 carpelled. The pistil 2–9 celled. Carpels isomerous with the perianth. Gynoecium syncarpous; synstylovarious to eu-syncarpous; inferior. Ovary plurilocular; 2–9 locular. Gynoecium when bilocular transverse. Epigynous disk present. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 1; simple; attenuate from the ovary, or from a depression at the top of the ovary; apical; shorter than the ovary at anthesis to much longer than the ovary at anthesis; hairless. Stigmas 1; 2 - lobed (slightly bifid); more or less capitate; wet type, or dry type; papillate, or non-papillate; Group II type and Group IV type. Placentation axile. Ovules 1 per locule; pendulous; anatropous, or hemianatropous.

Fruit and seed features. Fruit more or less fleshy or fibrous with woody or bony endocarp; indehiscent; a drupe (globose or subglobose). The drupes with separable pyrenes (pyrenes 2–9). Dispersal unit the fruit. Dispersal by sea in G. speciosa, the fruit being buoyant. Fruit 2–9 seeded. Seeds non-endospermic, or endospermic (endosperm scanty). Endosperm ruminate, or not ruminate; when present, oily. Cotyledons 2. Embryo straight, or curved. Seedling. Germination phanerocotylar, or cryptocotylar.

Physiology, biochemistry. Aluminium accumulation not found.

Geography, cytology, number of species. X = 11.