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Project Name Data (Last Modified On 3/28/2013)
 

Flora Data (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
 
 
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