Marsypianthes Martius ex Bentham (1833: 64)

O’Leary, Nataly, 2015, Synopsis of subtribe Hyptidinae (Lamiaceae) in Argentina, Phytotaxa 233 (3), pp. 201-235 : 228

4. Marsypianthes Martius ex Bentham (1833: 64)

Type:— Marsypianthes hyptoides Benth. [= Marsypianthes chamaedrys ( Vahl 1794: 77) Kuntze 1891: 524 ].

Aromatic annual or perennial herbs, glandular sticky pubescence or simple hairs. Leaves petiolate, serrate, crenate margin. Flowers grouped in 1–3 to many-flowered cymes, axillary disposed, pedunculate or not, narrow elliptic bracteoles present in many-flowered cymes. Flowers pedicellate, calyx actinomorphic, broadly infundibuliform, with 5 equal triangular teeth, erect at first, becoming strongly reflexed in fruit. Corolla bluish lilac or pale yellow color, tube cylindrical and with anterior lobe much shorter than the others, central lobe cupped. Stamens 4, inserted in the superior part of the corolla tube. Gynoecium with a persistent, thickened and angled stylopodium fused throughout its length to the inner face of the four ovary lobes. Nutlets with a domed outer surface and a concave inner surface with a thin laciniate involute margin.

Marsypianthes is an American genus of about 6 species distributed in warm areas from Central America to Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil and northeastern Argentina (Corrientes and Misiones). In Argentina there are 2 native species. The gynoecial structure is unique within the family, making nutlet morphology a key character for identifying the genus.