Martinella (plant)

Martinella is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Bignoniaceae.[1] It is a genus of Neotropical lianas within the tribe Bignonieae.[2]

This article is about the plant genus. For the snail genus, see Martinella. For the bell used by the Florentines to ring out military signals, see Carroccio. For the Italian wine grape, see Martinella (grape).

Martinella
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Bignoniaceae
Genus: Martinella
Baill., 1888
Species

Bignonieae

Synonyms

Stenosiphanthus A.Samp.

Its native range is Mexico and Tropical America. It is found in the countries of Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Panamá, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago and Venezuela.[1]

Description

They are lianas, which has terete (circular in cross-section) branchlets. It has 2-foliolate (pairs of leaflets) leaves, sometimes with a trifid (rarely simple) tendril. The flower is an axillary raceme. Which has a tubular-campanulate (bell) shaped calyx, it is bilabiate (two lipped), or irregularly 3- or 4-labiate. The corolla is magenta to wine-colored, tubular-campanulate shaped and above a narrowly tubular base. It is glabrous to inconspicuously lepidote (covered with small scales) outside. The anthers are glabrous (smooth), the thecae is straight, divaricate (wide spreading). The ovary is linear-cylindric shaped and sparsely lepidote or puberulous (covered with minute soft erect hairs). The ovules (seed pre-fertilization) are (2-)4-seriate (arranged in rows) in each locule (section).[3] It has long, linear flattened fruit capsules (or seed pods) that can be up to 130cm long.[4] The valves are parallel to septum, they are thin, smooth, with the midline inconspicuous. The seeds are thin, 2-winged, (the wings are membranous), brownish in colour and poorly demarcated from seed body.[3]

It has a chromosome count of 2n=40.[5]

Taxonomy

The genus name of Martinella honours Joseph Martin (d. 1826), an Age of Enlightenment gardener-botanist and plant collector who worked at the Jardin du Roi in Paris.[6] It was first described and published in Hist. Pl. Vol.10 on page 30 in 1888.[1] The genus is recognised by United States Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Research Service on 9 February 2005, but they only list Martinella obovata (Kunth) Bureau & K. Schum..[7]

Known species

According to Kew,[1]

  • Martinella insignis A.H.Gentry ex Zuntini & L.G.Lohmann
  • Martinella iquitoensis A.Samp.
  • Martinella obovata (Kunth) Bureau & K.Schum.

Uses

A root extract from Martinella is useful in the treatment of conjunctivitis and possibly other conditions of the eye.[8]

References
  1. "Martinella Baill. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
  2. Kataoka, Eric Y.; Lohmann, Lúcia G. (13 May 2021). "Taxonomic revision of Martinella Baill. (Bignonieae, Bignoniaceae)". PhytoKeys. 177: 77–116.
  3. "MBG: Research: Projects: South America: Venezuelan Guayana". www.mobot.org. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
  4. Alexander Krings, Richard R. Braham Guide to Tendrillate Climbers of Costa Rican Mountains (2008), p. 30, at Google Books
  5. Joachim W. Kadereit (Editor) Flowering Plants · Dicotyledons: Lamiales (except Acanthaceae including ... (2012), p. 30, at Google Books
  6. Burkhardt, Lotte (2018). Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen – Erweiterte Edition [Index of Eponymic Plant Names – Extended Edition] (pdf) (in German). Berlin: Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin. doi:10.3372/epolist2018. ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  7. "Genus Martinella Baill". npgsweb.ars-grin.gov. Retrieved 23 October 2021.
  8. Gentry, Alwyn H.; Cook, Kathleen (1984). "Martinella (Bignoniaceae): a widely used eye medicine if South America". Journal of Ethnopharmacology. 11 (3): 337–343. doi:10.1016/0378-8741(84)90079-5. PMID 6482483.
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