''Martinella'' is a genus of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s belonging to the family

Bignoniaceae Bignoniaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales commonly known as the bignonias or trumpetvines.Vernon H. Heywood, Richard K. Brummitt, Ole Seberg, and Alastair Culham. ''Flowering Plant Families of the World''. Firefly Book ...

. It is a genus of Neotropical

lianas A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a t ...

within the tribe Bignonieae. Its native range is Mexico and Tropical America. It is found in the countries of Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, French Guiana, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Mexico, Panamá, Peru, Suriname, Trinidad-Tobago and Venezuela.

Description

They are lianas, which has

terete Terete is a term in botany used to describe a cross section that is circular, or like a distorted circle, with a single surface wrapping around it.Lichen Vocabulary, Lichens of North America Information, Sylvia and Stephen Sharnoff/ref> This is u ...

(circular in cross-section) branchlets. It has 2-foliolate (pairs of leaflets) leaves, sometimes with a trifid (rarely simple) tendril. The flower is an axillary raceme. Which has a tubular-campanulate (bell) shaped calyx, it is bilabiate (two lipped), or irregularly 3- or 4-labiate. The corolla is magenta to wine-colored, tubular-campanulate shaped and above a narrowly tubular base. It is glabrous to inconspicuously lepidote (covered with small scales) outside. The anthers are glabrous (smooth), the thecae is straight, divaricate (wide spreading). The ovary is linear-cylindric shaped and sparsely lepidote or puberulous (covered with minute soft erect hairs). The

ovules In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: the ''integument'', forming its outer layer, the ''nucellus'' (or remnant of the megasporangium), and the fe ...

(seed pre-fertilization) are (2-)4-seriate (arranged in rows) in each locule (section). It has long, linear flattened fruit capsules (or seed pods) that can be up to 130cm long. The valves are parallel to septum, they are thin, smooth, with the midline inconspicuous. The seeds are thin, 2-winged, (the wings are membranous), brownish in colour and poorly demarcated from seed body. It has a chromosome count of 2n=40.

Taxonomy

The genus name of ''Martinella'' honours Joseph Martin (d. 1826), an

Age of Enlightenment The Age of Enlightenment or the Enlightenment; german: Aufklärung, "Enlightenment"; it, L'Illuminismo, "Enlightenment"; pl, Oświecenie, "Enlightenment"; pt, Iluminismo, "Enlightenment"; es, La Ilustración, "Enlightenment" was an intel ...

gardener-botanist and plant collector who worked at the Jardin du Roi in Paris. It was first described and published in Hist. Pl. Vol.10 on page 30 in 1888. The genus is recognised by

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

and the Agricultural Research Service on 9 February 2005, but they only list ''Martinella obovata'' .

Known species

According to Kew,

Uses

A root extract from ''Martinella'' is useful in the treatment of

conjunctivitis Conjunctivitis, also known as pink eye, is inflammation of the outermost layer of the white part of the eye and the inner surface of the eyelid. It makes the eye appear pink or reddish. Pain, burning, scratchiness, or itchiness may occur. The ...

and possibly other conditions of the eye.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q141397 Bignoniaceae Bignoniaceae genera Plants described in 1888 Flora of Mexico Flora of Central America Flora of northern South America Flora of western South America Flora of Brazil