Lianas or reclining shrubs with oblong-lanceolate to ovate
leaves. The
flowers, which may be unisexual or bisexual, are in axillary
racemoids or fascicles, with a white to orange
corollas that are strongly
zygomorphic (bilaterally symmetrical) with the long bottom petal weakly differentiated with a well
exserted (projecting) spur. On the five
stamens, the filaments are strongly
connate (fused) with the two lowest anthers
calcarate (spurred) and possessing a small dorsal connective appendage that is entire and ovate. In the
gynoecium, the
style is
rostellate (beaked). The fruit is a very thin walled bladder-like
capsule. There are many
seeds per
carpel, that are orbicular in outline and strongly flattened and encircled with a low interrupted ridge, or broad wing.[5][6][7] The genus is characterized by membranaceous inflated capsules that usually prematurely expose the strongly flattened seeds to maturation.[8]
Taxonomy
The
genusAnchietea was first described by
Saint-Hilaire in 1824, with a single species Anchietea salutaris, which thus is considered the
type species.[9] Therefore, the genus bears his name, A.St.-Hil., as the
botanical authority.[4] Shortly before this,
Martius had described a species in a related genera, Noisettia pyrifolia.[10] In 1831,
Don transferred this species to Anchietea, noting that the
specific epithetpyrifolia referred to "pear-shaped leaves".[11][12] A revision of the genus in 2013 identified A. salutaris and A. pyrifolia as
conspecific, and since A. pyrifolia had priority (as Noisettia pyrifolia) it is the type species.[12]
Early
taxonomic schemes, primarily based on
floral morphology, such as
Bentham and Hooker (1862)[13] placed Anchietea within
subfamily Violoideae,
tribe Violeae, subtribe Violinae.[6][14]Anchietea is one of four lianescent genera in Violaceae, together with CalyptrionGing., AgateaA.Gray and the more recently discovered (2003) Hybanthopsis Paula-Souza.[15] Historically, these genera were distributed among separate
subtribes, with Anchietea within subtribe Violinae with Calyptrion and Hybanthopsis and Agatea in subtribe Hybanthinae.[5][14]
Molecular phylogenetic studies have now grouped these four genera together into a single lianescent
clade, one of four within the family Violaceae.[7]
Etymology
The genus Anchietea is named for the sixteenth century Jesuit missionary and naturalist
Joseph of Anchieta, who described the Brazilian
flora.[11][16]
Estimates of the number of species in Anchietea has varied considerably between five[5][17] and nine,[1][2] but historically, the genus has been poorly described and new species have continued to be described. Paula-Souza and colleagues recognize six species,[18][8][7] having added A. ferrucciae in 2010 as a new description[8] and A. ballardii in 2016.[19][20]
Distribution and habitat
Extra-Amazonian South America, in the seasonally-dry tropical forests (SDTF) of South America.[19][21][2]
Paula-Souza, Juliana (2009).
"Anchietea". Estudos filogenéticos em Violaceae com ênfase na tribo Violeae e revisão taxonômica dos gêneros Lianescentes de Violaceae na região [Neotropical Phylogenetic studies on tribe Violeae and taxonomic revision of the Neotropical Lianescent genera of Violaceae] (PhD thesis) (in Brazilian Portuguese). Instituto de Biociências,
Universidade de São Paulo. pp. 65–120.