PlantaeDB Logo
Login Sign-up

Genus Stictocardia in Family Convolvulaceae

In botanical taxonomy, a genus (plural genera) is a rank used to group closely related species within a family. In the hierarchy, genus sits below family and above species.

Genera are defined by shared morphological, anatomical, and genetic characteristics (for example, features of flowers, fruits, seeds, or leaves) that indicate a close evolutionary relationship among the species they contain.

Each genus can include one or more species. Examples include Rosa (roses) and Solanum (nightshades, including tomato and eggplant).

Do you wish to read more about plant taxonomy? Click here!

Genus Description

Suggest a correction!

Stictocardia (Hallier f.) is placed in Convolvulaceae and comprises about fifteen to eighteen species distributed across tropical Africa, South and Southeast Asia, Malesia, and the Pacific. It occurs from coastal dunes and strand vegetation to disturbed lowland forest edges and river margins in the Old World tropics, and is well established as a naturalized introduction in some neotropical areas. The type species, Stictocardia tiliifolia (Desr.) Hallier f., is widely cultivated and often cited as representative of the genus. Plants are vigorous, twining or scrambling vines, typically with petiolate, broadly ovate to orbicular leaves that are glabrescent to sparsely hairy on undersides, and axillary inflorescences that are few‑flowered and often pedunculate. Flowers are actinomorphic with rotate, five‑lobed corollas that open broadly, a short tube, and often a characteristic star‑shaped outline in face view; stamens attach near the base of the corolla tube, and the ovary is two‑locular with a single short style bearing a two‑lobed stigma. The fruit is a globose to ovoid, leathery capsule that dehisces loculicidally, exposing a limited number of black seeds.

Species richness is highest in the Western Pacific and Malesian region, with several taxa confined to islands, and a smaller set of taxa in mainland Asia and tropical Africa. Most species are found at low elevation, often in coastal or near‑coastal habitats where sandy soils and salt exposure are common, although some occur in wetter lowland forest margins. Collections are uneven and several island endemics remain poorly documented.

Pollination is typical of many Convolvulaceae and is inferred to involve diurnal, open‑flowered pollinators in the Old World tropics; details are fragmentary. The genus is closely allied to Argyreia and sometimes separated from it on the basis of flower shape, anther insertion at the corolla base, and seed indumentum, but molecular studies have not yet produced a fully resolved phylogeny, and broad morphological convergence complicates a sharp, universal circumscription. Recent molecular treatments and regional treatments recognize Stictocardia at generic rank with limited sectional subdivision; some older authors merge it with Argyreia, while others maintain Argyreia sensu lato, creating contrasting taxonomic expectations across manuals and regional floras.

Horticultural use is limited; S. tiliifolia and a few other taxa are occasionally grown as ornamental vines for their showy, large, rotate flowers and rapid growth. Some wild populations can be weedy along forest edges and in ruderal sites, but none are listed as major invasive weeds. Conservation concerns center on coastal habitat loss and the disjunct, often narrow distributions of island taxa, with research needs focused on species limits, population status, and phylogenomic resolution of its placement within the convolvulaceous tree.

Pick a Species to see its components: