Bacopa Aublet (1775: 128 – 130)

Sosa, María De Las Mercedes, Moroni, Pablo & O’Leary, Nataly, 2018, A taxonomic revision of the genus Bacopa (Gratioleae, Plantaginaceae) in Argentina, Phytotaxa 336 (1), pp. 1-27 : 3

Bacopa Aublet (1775: 128 – 130) , nom. cons.

Type:— Bacopa aquatica Aublet (1775: 129) .

= Bramia Lamarck (1785: 459) .

Type:— Bramia indica Lamark (1785: 459) [= Bacopa monnieri (Linnaeus) Wettstein (1895: 77) ].

= Herpestis Gaertner (1807: 186) .

Type:— Herpestis rotundifolia Gaertn. (1807: 186) [= B. repens (Swartz) Wettstein (1895: 76) ].

= Ranaria Chamisso (1833: 30) .

Type:— Ranaria monnierioides Chamisso (1833: 30) [= B. monnierioides (Cham.) Robinson (1909: 614) ].

= Monocardia Pennell (1920: 155) .

Type:— Monocardia violacea Pennell (1920: 155) [= B. salzmannii ( Bentham 1836: 58) Wettstein ex Edwall (1897: 175) ].

Herbs, annual or perennial, erect, prostrate, or floating, glabrous or variously pubescent. Leaves opposite, sometimes verticillate, sessile or sub-petiolate, blade entire, exceptionally pinnatisect or pinnatifid, elliptic, ovate, orbicular, obovate or oblong, rounded, apex obtuse or acute, base rounded, acute, amplexicaul or auriculate, margin entire or serrate, glabrous or variously pubescent, generally with glandular punctuations on both surfaces. Flowers axillary, solitary or 2–3 per axil, sometimes arranged in terminal racemose inflorescences; sessile or generally with a long pedicel; bracteoles two, inserted at the base of the calyx or absent. Calyx pentamerous, three external lobes, plus two internal linear lobes. Corolla white or blue, violet or pale blue color, sometimes orange, pink or red color, slightly zygomorphic, superior lip bilobed, inferior lip trilobed. Stamens four, didynamous or two stamens plus staminodes, anthers with parallel thecae. Gynoecium composed of a bilocular, pluri ovulated ovary, glabrous or with long bristles in a ring, entire or bifid style, with stigmatic apex smooth, globose or bilobed. Fruit composed of an ovoid or globose capsule, of loculicide dehiscence, apex acute or rounded. Seeds numerous, ovoid, ellipsoid, reticulate.

Distribution:—In Argentina there are 12 native taxa (11 species and one variety) of Bacopa , being the genus with the greatest number of representatives from Plantaginaceae in the country, after Plantago Linnaeus (1753) . Only one species, B. monnieri is amply distributed in the country, reaching Tierra del Fuego province in the south, the rest of the species are only present in the north and northeastern region. The provinces with the highest specific diversity are Misiones, Chaco and Corrientes, in northeastern Argentina. The 12 taxa that grow in Argentina are present in Corrientes province except for B. serpyllifolia (Benth.) Pennell which has only been collected in Chaco province.