Tetrapterys
(from tetra, four, and pteron, a wing; the samaras are four-winged). ORD. Malpighiaceae. A genus comprising about fifty-two species of usually climbing, stove shrubs, natives of tropical America, mostly Brazilian. Flowers yellow or reddish; calyx five-parted, with eight glands, rarely ten or none; petals clawed; stamens ten, all perfect, the alternate ones longer; umbels or racemes often panicled, terminal, rarely sub-sessile. Leaves opposite, entire, often transparent, not glandular; stipules two, variable. The species are rather ornamental, but extremely difficult to bring into flower in this country, and it is doubtful whether those described below are still in cultivation. A compost of peat and sand forms the most desirable soil for them. Ripened cuttings will root in sand, under a hand glass, in heat.
T. citrifolia (Citrus-leaved). A synonym of T. inaequalis. T. discolor (discoloured). fl. yellow; pedicels hoary-pubescent, articulated at the middle; umbels four-flowered, paniculate. May. l. elliptic or elliptic-oblong, bluntish or slightly acute, coriaceous, glabrous; stipules interpetiolar, deciduous. Guiana and Trinidad, 1827. T. inaequalis (unequal). fl. yellow; petals articulated at or below the middle; umbels four-flowered, paniculate. May. l. ovate or elliptic, acute, coriaceous; stipules interpetiolar, deciduous. Brazil and Jamaica, 1818. SYN. T. citrifolia.