Bouchea Chamisso (1832: 252)

Cardoso, Pedro Henrique, Valério, Vanessa Imaculada Dos Reis, Neto, Luiz Menini & Salimena, Fátima Regina Gonçalves, 2021, Verbenaceae in Espírito Santo, Brazil: richness, patterns of geographic distribution and conservation, Phytotaxa 484 (1), pp. 1-43 : 9

2. Bouchea Chamisso (1832: 252) .

Subshrubs, monoecious, branches without prickles, not aromatic. Leaves petiolate, glands near to the petiole absent. Inflorescences terminal, simple, racemes spiciform, multiflowered, rachis elongated; bracts membranaceous, green, bracteoles 2 per flower. Flowers pedicellate; calyx cylindrical-tubular, shorter than the corolla, membranaceous, green, 5-toothed, not accrescent in fruit; corolla zygomorphic, 5-lobed; stamens 4, included, didynamous, superior pair without connective appendages, thecae parallel or slightly divergent; ovary 1-carpelate, 2-loculate, ovules 1 per locule, stigma oblique. Fruit a schizocarp, with 2 cluses, brown, external surface striate.

Bouchea is part of the tribe Duranteae ( Marx et al. 2010) and presents 13 species distributed from South United States to North Argentina ( Moroni & O’Leary 2019, Cardoso et al. in press.). The genus is characterized by terminal inflorescences, spiciform, bracteolates, pedicellate flowers, and four fertile stamens ( Moroni & O’Leary 2019). In Brazil, there are three species, of which two are endemic ( Moroni & O’Leary 2020b). One species is recorded for Espírito Santo state.