|
(Last Modified On 3/28/2013)
|
|
|
|
(Last Modified On 3/28/2013)
|
|
Family
|
FLACOURTIACEAE
|
|
Contributor
|
ANDRE ROBYNS
|
|
Description
|
Trees or shrubs, the branchlets sometimes spine-tipped or axillary spinose. Leaves usually alternate and/or distichous, rarely opposite or verticillate, persistent, the petiole short to long, sometimes 2-glandular at the apex, the stipules -usually small and caducous, sometimes large, foliaceous and persisent, rarely absent; blade simple, entire or not, sometimes 2-glandular at or near the base, penninerved or 3-5-nerved from the base, sometimes with pellucid dots or lines. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, fasciculate, racemose, spicate, corymbose or paniculate, some- times flowers axillary and solitary, the peduncles or pedicels sometimes adnate to the petioles of the subtending leaves, the bracts and bracteoles minute. Flowers actino- morphic, g or , 9. sometimes dioecious or polygamous; sepals 2-several, contorted or imbricate, rarely valvate, sometimes undifferentiated from the petals, usually distinct, sometimes more or less united into a tube, sometimes persistent or even accrescent; petals, when present, hypogynous or ? perigynous, rarely epigynous, equal in number to the sepals and alternating with them, or sometimes more numerous than the sepals, contorted or imbricate, sometimes with a scale within the base; torus often glandular or sometimes expanded into a glandular disk (be- tween androecium and gynoecium); stamens usually more numerous than the petals, often oo, 1- or many-seriate, or isomerous with the petals and opposite to them; filaments free or in fascicles alternating with glands, rarely united into a tube; anthers 2-thecate, sometimes appendaged, usually longitudinally dehiscent, rarely opening by terminal pores; pollen grains u ually 3-colporate; ovary superior, semi-inferior to rarely inferior, 1-locular with several (2-10) parietal placentas, the later sometimes ? deeply protruding into the middle of the ovary, infrequently 3-5-locular; ovules usually oo on each placenta, anatropous or amphitropous; styles isomerous with the placentas, free to completely united, rarely absent. Fruit a valvately dehicent capsule, or fleshy or dry and indehiscent, the pericarp some- times alate or prickly; seeds few to numerous, sometimes conspicuously arillate, the endosperm usually copious and fleshy, the embryo straight or curved; cotyledons usually broad, often cordate. -x = 10, 11, 12.
|
|
Habit
|
Trees or shrubs
|
|
Distribution
|
A family of about 85 genera and 1300 species, nearly all woody, chiefly of tropical distribution, with some extensions into the temperate zone; 15 genera, at present
|
|
Note
|
Economically the family is of little importance; Oncoba spinosa Forsk. from Africa, cultivated at the Plant Introduction Garden at Summit, Canal Zone (Steyermark s.n., MO, in 1935) has edible fruits. The Flacourtiaceae are characterized by a combination of several characters: numerous stamens, receptacle often glandular or often expanded into a glandular disc, ovary superior and I-locular with parietal placentation, copious endosperm, and often undifferentiated perianth. In some genera the placentas are deeply pro- truding into the middle of the ovary and the ovary is sometimes even plurilocular, e.g. in Prockia with a 3-5-locular ovary and Hasseltia with a 2(-3)-locular ovary; these genera are perhaps better placed in the Tiliaceae (see Hutchinson, The Genera of Flowering Plants 2: 476, 478, 1967). The family is somewhat indeterminate and, as noted by Sleumer (in Van Steenis, Fl. Males., ser. I, 5: 2, 1954), "no single character exists wherewith to distinguish Flaco'urtiaceae from other families or to recognize them in the field."
|
|
Key
|
a. Petals present. b. Petals more numerous than the sepals. c. Fruits echinate. d. Styles simple; stigma shortly 3-lobulate; flowers U or a by abortion ................................... 1. Lindackeria dd. Styles 3, each one 2-lobed, the lobes laciniate; flowers dioecious .............................................. 2. Mayna cc. Fruits with broad, vertical wings ................... 3. Carpotroche bb. Petals isomerous with the sepals. e. Leaves 3-nerved from the base. f. Flowers small, in large, compound, repeatedly 3- to 4-radiate umbels; anthers small, subglobose; ovary 2(-3)-celled .................. 4. Hasseltia ff. Flowers large, in few-flowered racemes; anthers elongated-linear; ovary incompletely 5-9-locular by the intrusion of the placentas ......................... 5. N eosprucea ee. Leaves penninerved. g. Sepals 3(-4); stamens pluriseriate, inserted on a densely villosulous disc; ovary superior, with 5-8 intruding, lamelliform placentas .............. 6. Banara gg. Sepals (5-)6-7; stamens in fascicles of 3, rarely 2, the fascicles alternating with minutely tomentellous glands; ovary half inferior, with 2-6 (-8) parietal placentas .................. 7. Homaliumn aa. Petals absent. h. Flowers 0, branchlets unarmed (except in Casearia stjohnii). i. Stipules large, foliaceous, and persistent or not. j. Stipules inequilateral, glandular-crenate along the margins, persistent; leaves slender and rather long-petiolate; flowers pedicellate, in racemes; calyx 5.5 to 6.5 mm long; stamens 00; ovary 3-5 locular ....8. Prockia jj. Stipules somewhat falcate, entire-margined, caducous; leaves short- petiolate; flowers sessile, paniculate-spicate, densely crowded or not along the secondary rachises; calyx to 3.5 mm long; stamens 4; ovary l-locular ......... 9. Tetrathylacium ii. Stipules small to usually very small, caducous, or absent; ovary l-locular. k. Inflorescences mostly fasciculate, sometimes cymiose or flowers solitary; leaves stipulate, penninerved; sepals 4-6 (-9). 1. Staminodes alternating with the stamens. m. Style present, simple or divided at the apex into 3 branches, the stigmas 1-3, capitate ............................................ 10. Casearia mm. Style absent or obsolete, the stigma thick and peltate .1... 11. Zuelania 11. Staminodes absent. n. Indumentum of simple hairs; leaf blades pellucid-punctate; sepals to 9 mm long; anthers not appendaged .................... 12. Laetia nn. Indumentum mostly stellate; leaf blades epunctate; sepals 1.3-5 cm long; anthers mucronate ...................................... 13. Ryania kk. Inflorescences racemose; leaves estipulate, 3-(5-)nerved from the base; calyx, at length, split into 2-3 lobes ...................... 14. Lunania hh. Flowers 8 9 (or polygamous); branchlets often with axillary spines; leaves estipulate .................... 15. Xylosma
|
|
Tag
|
|
|
|
Project Name
|
|
Tag
|
|
|
|