Varronia P. Browne (1756: 172)

Melo, José Iranildo Miranda De, Paulino, Renan Da Cruz, Oliveira, Regina Célia De & Vieira, Diego Daltro, 2018, Flora of Rio Grande do Norte, Brazil: Boraginales, Phytotaxa 357 (4), pp. 235-260 : 244

2. Varronia P. Browne (1756: 172) .

Shrubs or subshrubs. Leaves alternate, petiolate or sessile, margin frequently serrated or dentate to crenate, rarely entire, venation generally craspedodromous or rarely brochidodromous. Inflorescences congested spiciform or capitulate (glomerate or globose). Flowers with calyx generally campanulate, 5-lobate, lobes presenting different forms or with filiform appendices; corolla white; stamens included or not, trichomes at the stamen insertion point present or not; ovary piriform, glabrous. Drupe conical or cylindrical.

Represented by approximately 100 species throughout the Neotropics, with main diversity centers in Mexico and Brazil (Melo pers. obs.). In Brazil, there are records for 29 species ( BFG 2015), with five of them found in Rio Grande do Norte, predominantly in the Caatinga. Only Varronia multispicata is found outside the semi-arid domain, with records exclusively for the Atlantic Forest.