Duration: Perennial

Nativity: Non-Native

Lifeform: Subshrub

General: Small woody plants, erect, 10-50 cm high, stems rarely branching much above the base, terete and pubescent.

Leaves: Petiolate, with petioles 2-8 mm long, pubescent, blades ovate to linear-lanceolate, 0.5-3 cm long, 0.5-1.5 cm across, glabrate to pubescent with simple and stellate hairs intermixed, margins serrate to dentate.

Flowers: Axillary, a 1-4 flowered fascicle, 5 red clawed petals ovate-spatulate, bearing an erect dorsal gland, 5 sepals, these ovate to acute, lower surface pubescent to glabrate, not persistent in fruit, the anthers 3-celled.

Fruits: Capsule, 2 valved carpels, covered in minute hairs.

Distribution: Ranges from Arizona to the Gulf coast, south to Paraguay, throughout the West Indies.

Notes: Variable species across its entire range, Lawrence 1929 wondered if this did not warrant further splitting. Unable to see Crist-bal, C. L. 1960. Revisi-n del g_nero Ayenia (Sterculiaceae). Opera Lilloana 4: 1-230.

Ethnobotany: Unknown

Etymology: Ayenia is named for Louis de Noailles (1713-1793) the Duke of d-Ayen,

Synonyms: None

Editor: SBuckley 2011