7162.000 Duranta L.

Erect, or ± climbing, unarmed or spiny shrubs or small trees. Leaves opposite or whorled, simple. Flowers in terminal or axillary racemes or panicles; bracts small. Calyx 5-toothed, persistent. Corolla zygomorphic; limb 2-lipped with 5 unequal lobes. Stamens 4-5. Ovary spherical, 8-10-locular. Fruit fleshy with 4-5 2-seeded pyrenes, tightly enclosed by the persistent calyx.

Derivation of name: Duranta: named for Castor Durantes, physician and botanist in Rome, who died in c. 1590

Worldwide: 20-35 species, tropical American; one widely cultivated in the tropics and becoming naturalised