Cordia Linnaeus (1753: 190)

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 : 238

1. Cordia Linnaeus (1753: 190) .

Erect, scandent or subscandent shrubs or trees; presenting trichomes simple or stellate. Leaves alternate or verticillate, petiolate. Inflorescences paniculiform or thyrsoid, terminal or internodal, bractless. Flowers subsessile, sessile, or pedicellate; calyx obconic, conical, tubular, campanulate or tubular-campanulate, occasionally costate, densely strigose, pubescent or, more rarely, glabrescent, lobes ovate, ovate-lanceolate or, rarely, dentate; corolla infundibuliform or hypocrateriform, sparsely strigose to glabrous, white or cream, lobes oval-lanceolate, orbicular, suborbicular, subtruncate or obovate. Stamens 5, sessile to subsessile, epipetalous, alternate with corolla lobes, included or exserted; anthers rimose, included or exserted. Ovary falsely 4-locular, ovules 1–4. Styles 2, bifurcate; stigmatic branches 4, stigmas capitate, subcapitate or clavate, foliaceous or not. Drupe of different shapes; calyx persistent, accrescent, vesicular or not. Seed usually 1.

Cordia sensu lato includes ca. 250 species worldwide, in the tropical and subtropical regions ( Miller 2001) but in their current circumscription the genus it is represented by 150 species with 48 of them occurring in Brazil (Melo et al. 2017) in all of its vegetation types, but especially in forested areas. It has been recently recircumscribed with the South American genera Auxemma Miers and Patagonula Linnaeus included in it ( Gottschling & Miller 2006) and with Varronia P. Browne resurrected to accommodate species with the multi-stemmed shrubby habit, generally serrate leaves, predominantly spiciform (Miller 2007) or capitate (glomerular or glomerular to globose) inflorescences, and porate pollen ( Miller & Gottschling 2007). In Rio Grande do Norte, Cordia s.str. is represented by seven species found in several vegetation types but predominantly in the Caatinga environments.