Annual, biennial or perennial herbs or shrubs. Leaves often cordate at base. Flowers solitary, occasionally in terminal racemes or spikes. Epicalyx of 5-16 bracts. Calyx of 5 lobes. Style branches usually 10,
always more than 5. Fruit of 5 indehiscent 1-seeded mericarps. Seeds reniform. Derivation of name: Named after José Antonia Pavon (1754-1840), Spanish botanist and traveller. Worldwide: 150 species from tropical and warm zones Botswana: 5 taxa. |