Pentapetes L.

Annual herbs, much branched. Leaves simple, alternate, elongated, hastate-lanceolate, crenate-dentate. Flowers axillary, pedicellate, solitary or in pairs; bracteoles 3, subulate, caducous. Calyx 5-partite, connate at base. Petals 5. Stamens 15 in 5 groups of 3 each, alternating with 5 staminodes, staminal cup cylindric. Ovary sessile, 5-locular, ovules many in each locule; styles elongated, often twisted, thickened upwards; stigmas 5, minute. Capsules subglobose to oblong, loculicidally dehiscent, 5-valved. Seeds 8 - 12, 2-seriate in each locule; cotyledons plaited.

Widely distributed in tropical Asia, monotypic.

List of Lower Taxa