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(Last Modified On 5/8/2013)
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(Last Modified On 5/8/2013)
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Family
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MYRSINACEAE
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Contributor
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LONGWORTH LUNDELL
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Description
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Trees or shrubs, glabrous or pubescent, sometimes dioecious. Leaves alternate or subverticillate, often clustered at the ends of the branches, entire, crenulate or serrate, glandular-punctate; stipules none. Flowers bisexual, or unisexual, usually 4- or 5-parted, regular, small, white, pink, or green, in terminal and axillary mostly pedunculate inflorescences, or glomerate on short bract-covered axillary shoots; calyx inferior, the segments free or more or less connate, mostly ciliate and glandular-punctate, valvate, imbricate, or sinistrorsely contorted, persistent; corolla regular, usually gamopetalous, rotate to tubular; petals valvate or dextrorsely or rarely sinistrorsely imbricate or contorted, often quin- cuncial; stamens as many as the petals and opposite them; filaments usually short (absent in Rapanea), sometimes equaling or longer than the petals, connate with the corolla tube or almost wholly free; anthers mostly dorsifixed, sagittate, cordate, ovate, elliptic or linear, dehiscent by introrse slits or by apical pores, often punctate dorsally; ovary globose, ovoid or clavate, free, sessile, 1-loculed, the placenta central, usually globose, the ovules numerous or few, uniseriate or pluriseriate, the style long, or short, or rarely absent (Rapanea), the stigma punctiform, capitate, discoid, conic, lobed or mor- chelliform. Fruit drupaceous, 1-seeded; seeds with a thin testa, the endosperm copious, smooth or rarely ruminate, the embryo cylindric or curved, the coty- ledoils small, the radicle elongate.
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Habit
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Trees or shrubs
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Distribution
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Genera about 40, widely dispersed in tropical regions of both hemispheres.
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Reference
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Mez, C. Myrsinaceae. Pflanzenreich IV. 236. 1902. Lundell, C. L. Flora of Guatemala: Myrsinaceae. Fieldiana: Bot. 24(8): 135-200. Fig. 38-56. 1966.
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Reference
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Lundell, C.L.. The Genus Parathesis of the Myrsinaceae. Contr. Texas Res. Found., Bot. Stud. 5: xiv + 206. 35 pl. 71 fig. 1966.
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Key
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a. Inflorescences reduced, axillary, often with flowers borne on short bract-covered shoots, the shoots usually shorter than the petioles; anthers sessile; style none, but the stigmas of pistillate flowers large, usually lobed -1. Rapanea aa. Inflorescences large, axillary and terminal, paniculate or racemose, pedunculate; anthers never sessile; style well developed. b. Inflorescences strictly racemose; leaves essentially linear, sessile --------------- - 2. Grammadenia bb. Inflorescences paniculate, the flowers in umbels, corymbs, or racemes; leaves not linear. c. Sepals and petals valvate; petals densely pubescent -3. Parathesis cc. Sepals and petals imbricate, often convolute in bud; petals glabrous (except in Weigeltia). d. Anthers minute, wider than long; style short, thick; the Panamanian species with simple stems and large terminal subverticillate leaves ---------------------- 4. Weigeltia dd. Anthers elongate, mostly lanceolate, rarely ovate or cordate, always longer than wide; style slender; leaves strictly alternate. e. Flowers unisexual or bisexual; style of staminate flowers short, subequaling the abortive ovary, the style of carpellate flowers elongate, much exceeding the ovary; ovules few, uniseriate; sepals and petals contorted in bud -5. Stylogyne ee. Flowers bisexual; style long and slender; ovules usually numerous, pluriseriate; sepals and petals imbricate or contorted in bud. f. Anthers small, cordate; stamens exserted; filaments long and slender; corolla greenish or white; flowers corymbose -_-- 6. Gentlea ff. Anthers usually large, elongate; stamens included; filaments usually short, if elongate: the flowers either racemose or spicate; corolla pink or white -7. Ardisia
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