genus descriptions: SSTAs

Shrubs or rarely small trees, rarely foetid, glabrous to hairy or strigose. Leaves opposite, mostly acuminate, thin to coriaceous, petiolate, usually with many arching lateral nerves and close venation; stipules interpetiolar, usually broadly triangular or lanceolate, not divided, persistent or deciduous. Flowers bisexual or sometimes unisexual, sometimes heterostylous, mostly small, mostly in sessile axillary fascicles or glomerules or less often in pedunculate, simple or branched inflorescences; pedicels mostly absent; bracts present, usually small. Calyx: tube subglobose, ovoid, oblong or urceolate; limb 3-6-toothed or lobed, persistent. Corolla often white or pink, salver-shaped or somewhat funnel-shaped; tube densely hairy at throat; lobes 4-6, spreading or erect. Stamens 4-6, arising in throat of corolla; filaments very short; anthers dorsifixed near their base, included or shortly exserted. Disc swollen and fleshy. Ovary 4-12-locular; ovules solitary in each locule, erect from base, bent, anatropous; style short or elongate, glabrous or hairy, shortly 4-10-lobed at apex, lobes linear or obtuse. Fruits succulent, very often blue but sometimes pink, purple, white or black, with 4-12 pyrenes; pyrenes cartilaginous or bony, segment-shaped or pyriform, 3-angled with flat sides, dorsal curved face often grooved, keeled or winged, 1-seeded. Seeds narrowly oblong, curved, with membranous testa and fleshy albumen.

Medium-sized to large trees; terminal vegetative buds strongly flattened. Leaves opposite, petiolate, axils of nerves with or without domatia; stipules ovate, obovate or elliptic, flattened, adpressed, deciduous or +/- persistent. Inflorescences terminal or terminal and lateral with unbranched axes; nodes with reduced leaves and stipules surrounding young inflorescence not modified into bracts; true peduncle glabrous or pubescent, elongating. Flowers 4- or 5-merous. Calyx glabrous or pubescent inside; tube developed or not; lobes triangular or oblong, obtuse, with or without persistent appendages. Corolla: tube funnel-shaped; lobes oblong, imbricate. Stamens arising in throat, exserted; filaments short, glabrous; anthers basifixed, introrse. Ovaries entirely fused to each other, 2-locular; placentas attached to upper third of septum, Y-shaped with 2 short ascending arms and a long basal one; ovules many in each locule, mostly pendulous, some erect or horizontal but these mostly aborting; style exserted; stigma spindle-shaped. Fruits indehiscent, connate into a fleshy syncarp. Seeds ovoid or ellipsoid, sometimes compressed, not winged.

Stoloniferous creeping herbs rooting at nodes, with erect flowering branches, or sometimes erect shrubs. Leaves opposite, in 2-6 pairs on flowering stems; stipules bifid at apex or divided into 2 completely separate lobes; a membranous cylindric or cupular sheath present at nodes inside stipules. Inflorescences terminal or rarely axillary, +/- capitate, often with a cup-like involucre. Flowers sessile or subsessile, 5-merous, distinctly or obscurely heterostylous. Corolla: funnel-shaped. Stamens arising in middle of corolla tube; anthers linear or oblong. Ovary 2-locular with a single erect ovule per locule; style bifid. Fruit depressed-globose, usually orange, sometimes red, inflated, full of watery juice, crowned with persistent calyx; pyrenes 2, semi-ellipsoid, brittle, dorsal face convex and not ribbed, ventral face with 1 or 2 grooves, basally dehiscent by 2 short lateral fissures. Seeds semi-ellipsoid, with entire albumen.

Shrubs, small trees or sometimes lianes or with subscandent branches; stems and foliage almost glabrous to densely hairy; branches appearing supra-axillary and often supported by rounded leaves very different from the main foliage. Leaves opposite, shortly petiolate, mostly thinly coriaceous, mostly oblong-elliptic; stipules keeled, acuminate, soon deciduous. Flowers sweetly scented, rather small, in sessile, mostly dense axillary clusters; bracts and bracteoles triangular-acuminate, not forming cupules. Calyx: tube ovoid; limb campanulate with 5 triangular to lanceolate teeth. Corolla white, cylindrical or very narrowly funnel-shaped, glabrescent or pubescent outside, glabrous to pilose at throat; lobes 5, narrowly oblong, +/- obtuse or acute, strictly contorted, pubescent outside. Stamens 5, inserted at mouth of tube; filaments very short; anthers buff, dorsifixed, linear, apiculate, +/- bifid at base, fully exserted. Disc shallowly bowl-shaped, becoming more cylindric in fruit. Ovary 2-locular, with a single ovule in each locule, pendulous from apex; style green, filiform, exserted, hairy save at extreme base, the apical 1 mm divisible into 2 lobes which do not spread and bear the stigmatic surface on their inner faces. Fruit ovoid, indehiscent, leathery-walled, 2-locular, (1)2-seeded. Seeds half-ovoid, compressed, rugulose; testa characteristically finely transversely wrinkled-striate; albumen horny, not ruminate; embryo small with inferior radicle; placenta elongated, lying along whole side of seed.