Epixiphium
| Maurandya | |
|---|---|
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| Maurandya barclayana | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| (unranked): | Angiosperms |
| (unranked): | Eudicots |
| (unranked): | Asterids |
| Order: | Lamiales |
| Family: | Plantaginaceae |
| Tribe: | Antirrhineae |
| Genus: |
Maurandya Ortega |
| Species | |
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See text. |
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| Synonyms | |
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See text.
Maurandya is a genus of flowering plants in the plantain family, Plantaginaceae, native to Mexico and the south west United States (from California to central Texas). They sprawl or climb by means of twining leaf stalks. One of the four species, Maurandya barclayana, is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant.
The generic name is often misspelt as Maurandia. Two of its species have at times been placed in the genera Epixiphium and Maurandella.
The species of Maurandya are either herbaceous perennials with fibrous roots or, in the case of M. wislizeni, an annual with a tap root. All are sprawlers or climbers, climbing by means of twining leaf stalks (petioles). The leaves are shaped like broad or narrow arrowheads, more rarely heart-shaped.
The flower stalks (peduncles) grow upwards and bear solitary flowers. The more-or-less triangular sepals are not joined together but jointly form an urn-shaped structure around the base of the flower. The petals (collectively the corolla) are joined at the base to form a tube with five free lobes at the tip. The lobes are differentiated into two upper ones, usually curving backwards, and three lower ones, usually pointing forwards. The corolla is whitish at the base with various colours further on: pink, red, violet, blue or combinations of these. In M. antirrhiniflora, the flowers have two "lips" partly enclosing the throat or tube of the flower; in the other species, the flower tube is open.
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