The medicinal herb Enicostema litorale
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Common name: 

Latin name and synonyms: Enicostema Blume, Bijdr. 848. 1826 [1825]. [sometimes this genus has been spelled Enicostemma]
Synonym: Hippion Spreng.
Type: E. littorale (= E. axillare ssp. littorale)

Etymology: The word Enicostema is probably formed from the three words en- (= in, inside), icos (20), and stemma (= wreath, circle), due to the many flowers arranged in circles in the leaf axils along the stem.

Species:   Three species.

Distribution:   This tropical genus is widely distributed in South America, Africa, and Asia.

Habitat:  Enicostema grows in many diverse habitats, from savannas, grasslands, and forests to beaches, and from wet to very dry.  Some populations grow in a very saline environment.

Characteristics:   Annual or perennial herbs. Stems often winged, rounded or angular. Leaves sessile, often narrow. Inflorescence axillary, dense clusters or cymes. Flowers 5-merous (rarely 3-, 4-, or 6-merous), sessile, actinomorphic. Calyx narrow, campanulate, divided down halfway to  2/3, thin, with white, thinner margins, persistent in fruit, with colleters. Corolla small, white, tubular to funnelshaped. Stamens inserted in corolla tube, with appendices at filament bases; filaments equal length; anthers erect after anthesis, with sterile apex. Ovary without nectary disk; stigmas capitate, slightly bilobed. Fruit a capsule, obovoid. Seeds rounded, not winged.

Evolution and related plants: Enicostema is closely related to the other genera of subtribe Faroinae in tribe Potalieae, such as Faroa, Neurotheca, and Urogentias.

Economic uses:  

Notes: The taxonomy and nomenclature of Enicostema is very complex and was summarized by Veldkamp (1968) and Raynal (1969).

Accepted species (synonyms in parenthesis) and their distribution:

References and publications: 

Blume, C. L. 1826. Bijdragen tot de Flora van Nederlandsh Indië. Lands Drukkerij, Batavia.

Lindsey, A. A. 1940. Floral anatomy in the Gentianaceae. Amer. J. Bot. 27: 640-652.

Padmanabhan, D., D. Regupathy, & S. Pushpa Veni. 1978. Gynoecial ontogeny in Enicostemma littorale Blume. Proc. Indian Acad. Sci. 87 B (Pl. Sci.-2, no. 5): 83-92. 

Raynal, A. 1969. Révision du genre Enicostema Blume (Gentianaceae). Adansonia, ser. 2, 9: 57-83.

Struwe, L., J. W. Kadereit, J. Klackenberg, S. Nilsson, M. Thiv, K. B. von Hagen, & V. A. Albert. 2002. Systematics, character evolution, and biogeography of Gentianaceae, including a new tribal and subtribal classification. Pp. 21-309. In: L. Struwe & V. A. Albert (eds.), Gentianaceae: Systematics and Natural History, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Veldkamp, J. F. 1968. A synopsis of the genus Enicostema Bl., nom. cons. (Gentianaceae). Blumea 41: 133-136.

Links:

USDA Plants Database, Enicostema

© Lena Struwe, 2004