Priva Adanson (1763: 505)

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 : 25

9. Priva Adanson (1763: 505) .

Herbs, monoecious, branches without prickles, not aromatic. Leaves petiolate, glands near to the petiole absent. Inflorescences terminal, simple, racemes spiciform, multiflorous, rachis elongated; bracts membranaceous, green; bracteoles absent. Flowers pedicellate; calyx cylindrical-tubular or campanulate, shorter than the corolla, membranaceous, green, 5-lobed, accrescent and inflated in fruit; corolla zygomorphic, 5-lobed; stamens 4, included, didynamous, superior pair with glandular thickening in the connective, thecae divergent; ovary 2-carpelate, 4-loculate, ovules 1 per locule, stigma 2-lobed. Fruit schizocarp, with 2 mericarps, brown, external surface uncinate or echinate.

Priva is part of the tribe Priveae ( Marx et al. 2010) and presents approximately 20 species distributed throughout the Neotropical Region, of which two are endemic to South America ( Kobuski 1926, Moldenke 1936, Cardoso et al. in press). The genus is characterized by the pedicellate flowers; 5-lobed calyx, accrescent and inflated in fruit, densely covered by trichomes that aid the fruit dispersal ( Moldenke 1936). Two species occur in Brazil, of which one is endemic ( Cardoso & Salimena 2020b). Both species are found in Espírito Santo.