Talk:Stegnosperma

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Stegnosperma is a genus of three Central American species.

- S. halimifolium Benth. (Baja California and Sonora, Mexico; perhaps farther south)

- S. watsonii D. J. Rogers (Baja California, Mexico)

- S. cubense A. Rich (Carribean, Central America, southern and eastern Mexico)

(S. sanchezii Medrano & Medina from near Puebla, Mexico has not yet been evaluated.)

In habit all species of Stegnosperma are perennial shrubs or small trees. They exhibit anomalous secondary thickening by successive cambia in their old stems. (Anomalous secondary thickening is typical in other members of the order Caryophyllales.) Because they have normal cambial activity until the stems are at least 1 cm, its possible that Stegnosperma exhibits ancestral features for the group. I have seen trunks as large as 10 cm on specimens of Baja California, where they were phaeatophytes living in a large arroyo.

Leaves are alternate, entire, 2-5 cm in length, tapering at both ends.

The flowers are small (5-8 mm), five-merous, with white petal-like sepals, and a superior ovary. They are arranged in short racemes, usually no more than 10 cm long, shorter in S. watsonii. The fruit is a berry 5-8 mm in diameter. It contains small (2-3 mm) black seeds with a conspicuous reddish aril.

No known economic value, although they would make an attractive shrub in subtropical areas or for indoor gardens. A report in German literature from the 19th century indicated that native shamen used an extract of the root to cure rabies.