Triumfetta (triumfeta)

[NL. (Plumier, 1703), named after an Italian botanist, G. B. Tri onfetti (1656-1708).] A genus of polypetalous plants, of the order Tiliaceæ and tribe Grewieæ. It is characterized by an echinate or bristly globose capsule. There are about 50 species, natives of warm countries. They are herbs or shrubs with stellate hairs, bearing serrate entire or three to five-lobed leaves. The flowers are axillary, or opposite the leaves, chiefly yellow, and usually with numerous stamens on an elevated gland bearing torus. Some of the small-flowered species are very widely distributed; others are mostly confined to Aus Triumfetta tralia, Madagascar, or South Africa. A group of American species produces large dense ma es of showy cymulose flowers. The fruit is two to five-celled, and separates into distinct carpels, or is indehiscent and bur-like, its prickles often ending in hooks, as in T. Lappula, a common tropical weed known in Jamaica as great wort. The species in general are known in the West Indies as burweed or parra keet-bur, the ripe fruit being a favorite food of the green parrakeet. Several species are used medicinally in the tropics on account of their mucilaginous properties; several also yield a tenacious fiber, as T. rhomboidea, a widespread tropical weed, and T. semitriloba (for which see bur bark ).