genus descriptions: SSTAs

Crioceras

Pierre
Description:
Glabrous shrubs, climbers or small trees. Leaves opposite, decussate; leaves of a pair equal or +/-unequal; petiole very short or 0; blade obovate, acuminate or subobtuse with obtuse to cordate, sometimes slightly asymmetric base; intrapetiolar stipules present. Inflorescence pseuo-axillary or terminal, few- to 1-flowered, situated at point of branching of 2 second order branches. Flower large, white, pendent, fragrant, supported by 2 large foliaceous bracts. Calyx of 5 free, subequal, ovate-lanceolate, attenuate sepals, each with several colleters on inside. Corolla : tube slender and cylindric to above middle, then funnel-shaped-campanulate or campanulate; lobes broadly ovate-oblong, overlapping to left. Stamens arising at point of constriction of corolla tube; anthers subsessile, conniving in a cone, free from stigma, linear-lanceolate, acute, subsagittate, tails subobtuse, empty, solid. Disc annular, fleshy, adnate to ovary. Carpels 2, connate at base, style filiform; stigma at level of anthers, oblong, 5-grooved, minutely apiculate; ovules many, in many rows. Mericarps 2, follicular, diverging, globose or lanceolate-oblong with 2 lateral keels or wings, thinly leathery when dry, tardily dehiscent. Seeds ellipsoid, ventrally deeply grooved, coated with a thin aril; testa crustaceous; endosperm horny, deeply ruminated; cotyledons transverse, flat, thin, much shorter than radicle.
Distribution:
Monotypic genus: Crioceras dipladeniiflorus (Stapf) K.Schum., tropical W Africa; sthn trop. Afr.: Angola (Cabinda).
Source:
SSTA

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:56 -- Emily Smith
Cylindropsis

Pierre
Description:
Robust lianas with white latex; branches grey-brown with many lenticels. Leaves opposite, petiolate, glabrous, narrowly elliptic to obovate, apex apiculate, often with a long acumen, with 7-14 pairs of conspicuous secondary veins. Inflorescences : 3-20-flowered +/-congested cymes, axillary or sometimes also terminal; peduncle and pedicels glabrous. Sepals 5, small, ovate, ciliate; colleters absent. Corolla salver-shaped; tube +/-cylindric, widening in upper half, usually glabrous outside and below stamens on inside, variously hairy above stamens; lobes 5, narrowly oblong-triangular, half as long to as long as tube. Stamens included; filaments +/-half as long as anthers, usually with a tuft of hairs around base; anthers narrowly ovate, apiculate, dehiscing to base. Ovary subglobose, variously pubescent in upper part, 1(2)-locular, gradually narrowing into a glabrous filiform style; style head clavate with 2-lobed stigmoid apex. Fruit a syncarpous, globose to ovoid, many-seeded berry; pericarp smooth; pulp creamy, slimy. Seeds ellipsoid; testa thin; endosperm thin; cotyledons ellipsoid.
Distribution:
Monotypic genus: Cylindropsis parvifolia Pierre, tropical W Africa; sthn trop. Afr.: Angola (Cabinda).
Source:
SSTA
Synonym(s):
Clitandra sect. Cylindropsis (Pierre) Stapf: 61 (1902).

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:56 -- Emily Smith
Dictyophleba

Pierre
Description:
Tendrillous lianes climbing to 15 m and more; latex abundant; spines absent. Leaves obovate, oblong-obovate or elliptic, base shortly auricled; petiolate; stipules interpetiolar. Inflorescences loose, elongate terminal panicles of few-flowered cymes. Flowers sweet-scented. Calyx : lobes imbricate, free to base, with conspicuous glandular auricles Corolla hypocrateriform; tube cylindric, slightly enlarged at level of anthers; lobes narrowly linear, contorted, overlapping to the left, long-ciliate on inner margins. Stamens inserted in corolla tube between 1/4 and 3/4 of its length; filaments very short; anthers without carina. Ovary glabrous, multi-ovulate; clavuncle positioned at base of anthers. Fruit a many-seeded glabrous berry lacking a sclerified layer in pericarp.
Distribution:
Species 5, African; sthn trop. Afr. 1: Dictyophleba lucida (K.Schum.) Pierre, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique.
Source:
SSTA
Synonym(s):
Landolphia P.Beauv., in part.

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:56 -- Emily Smith
Emicocarpus

K.Schum. & Schltr.
Description:
Perennial herbs with slender, terete, prostrate stems minutely puberulous along one line when young. Leaves petiolate, hastate, deeply, almost palmately incised into 5 or 7 very narrowly triangular lobes, middle lobe twice as long or more than lateral ones; petiole canaliculate above. Inflorescences few-flowered, axillary umbels on long peduncles minutely pilose along one line. Flowers pedicellate; bracteoles minute, subulate. Sepals oblong-lanceolate, acuminate, with solitary interposed finger-shaped colleters. Corolla rotate, with glabrous lobes overlapping to the right. Corona triple: outer one of tongue-shaped, obtuse lobes opposite the petals; middle one of 10 paired, slightly longer and narrower lobes alternating with lobes of outer corona; lobes of inner corona similar to those of outer corona but somewhat smaller and opposite stamens and slightly adnate to corolla. Stamens ending in a 2-lobed, membranous connective; corpuscle very small; translator arms twisted. Style head swollen, ellipsoid, raised well above gynostegium. Ovary with two ovules. Follicles resembling fruit of Emex : with 3 spines, 2 lateral and 1 apical; pedicel short and spiny. Seed horseshoe-shaped, brown.
Distribution:
Monotypic genus: Emicocarpus fissifolius K.Schum. & Schltr. This incredible plant was recorded from near Maputo, coastal Mozambique.
Source:
SSTA

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:56 -- Emily Smith
Funtumia

Stapf
Description:
Evergreen trees or shrubs, with white sticky latex; bark smooth, sometimes with a few lenticels; wood of low density, soft; branches terete, sometimes lenticellate, very dark brown; branchlets smooth, terete or laterally compressed with a longitudinal groove below the ocrea. Leaves opposite, petiolate, those of a pair connate into a short ocrea, with many small colleters in 2 or 3 rows in axils; lamina ovate, elliptic or oblong, decurrent into petiole, acuminate at apex, entire, glabrous above; often with domatia in axils of secondary veins; margin both undulate and revolute. Inflorescences congested, terminal and axillary, cymose, much shorter than leaves; peduncle short; bracts ovate or elliptic, often with small colleters in axils. Flowers regular, fleshy, fragrant. Sepals free, thick, ovate or nearly so, obtuse or subacute at apex, often membranous and minutely ciliate at margin, inside with a single row of colleters at base. Corolla : tube ventricose at middle, inside thickened at throat, densely hirto-pubescent from insertion of stamens to level of apex of ovary; lobes overlapping in bud to the right, entire, recurved. Stamens included; filaments very short or absent; anthers narrowly triangular, introrse. Ovary of 2 almost free carpels united by base of style; clavuncula grading into a conical stigma; disc 5-lobed; ovules pendulous. Follicles 2, connate at base. Seeds slender, fusiform, apex with long straight hairs; testa rugose; embryo straight.
Distribution:
Species 2, trop. Africa; sthn trop. Afr. 2, Angola, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique.
Source:
SSTA

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:56 -- Emily Smith
Glossostelma

Schltr.
Description:
Slender or robust, erect perennial herbs with a short, often stout vertical rhizome with fusiform lateral roots; stem usually solitary, simple, often with a line of pubescence running along stem. Leaves usually petiolate, linear to ovate or spathulate. Inflorescences umbelliform, with or without peduncle, arising terminally and axillary at upper 1-4(-6) nodes. Corolla campanulate, lobed almost to base, medium to large. Corona 5-lobed, often fleshy, united very shortly at base and attached to staminal column near base of anthers; staminal column usually with a conspicuous stalk below attachment of corona lobes. Style head 5-angled, generally +/-level with top of anthers and largely obscured by anther appendages; corpuscle ovoid, brown or black; caudicles flattened, held +/-at right angles to axis of corpuscle; pollinia pendulous, flattened. Follicles erect, lanceolate or ovate-lanceolate in outline, apex attenuate; fruiting pedicel not contorted; usually only 1 follicle developing. Seeds flattened with one face convex, ovate to +/-circular in outline with a narrow convoluted rim surrounding a verrucose disc.
Distribution:
Species 12, trop. Africa; sthn trop. Afr. 10, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique.
Source:
SSTA

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:56 -- Emily Smith
Gongronema

(Endl.) Decne.
Description:
Perennal vines or subshrubs, glabrous. Leaves opposite. Inflorescences umbel-like cymes or umbels. Calyx 5-partite, small, ovate-acuminate. Flowers small or of moderate size. Corolla campanulate, often constricted at the throat; lobes erect to spreading, overlapping to the left. Corona of 5 small, wart-like fleshy lobes with basal parts adnate to staminal column. Anthers 2-locular, terminated by membranous appendages which are free or connate. Pollinia sessile, erect, attached by short to elongated caudicles. Style head conical or truncate. Follicles with a thick pericarp, smooth, sometimes winged. Seeds crowned with a tuft of hairs.
Distribution:
Species +/-20, Old World tropics; sthn trop. Afr. 8, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, and sthn Afr.
Source:
SSTA
Synonym(s):
Dregea E.Mey.; Bullock: 512 (1957); Binns: 20 (1968). Gymnema R.Br.; White: 359 (1962); Binns: 21 (1968). Marsdenia of various authors, in part, not of R.Br.; Norman & Moore: 97 (1929); Bullock: 364 (1954); Bullock: 287 (1955b); Bullock: 510 (1956); Bullock: 510 (1957); White: 359 (1962).

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:56 -- Emily Smith
Hunteria

Roxb.
Description:
Shrubs or trees up to 40 m high; stems and leaves completely glabrous; latex present; spines and tendrils absent. Leaves opposite, oblong to elliptic, entire, +/-concolorous; petiolate; stipules absent. Inflorescences cymose, terminal, rarely also axillary, few- to many-flowered; pedicels present, up to 10 mm long. Calyx glabrous; lobes free or connate at extreme base, herbaceous, imbricate, not revolute, with colleters inside covering part of ventral surface of sepals. Corolla hypocrateriform, externally glabrous, internally hairy above and below stamens; tube not developing splits (as in Pleiocarpa) ; lobes contorted, overlapping to the left, not ciliate. Stamens included, arising at or above middle of corolla tube; filaments short, anthers dorsifixed, longitudinally dehiscent, introrse, without carina. Ovary of 2 separate, glabrous mericarps diverging at 90-180deg, with 2-30 ovules per mericarp; pistil head composed of a subglobose basal stigmatic part and a stigmoid apex. Fruit composed of 2 separate diverging subglobose to obovoid, fleshy to fibrous mericarps. Seeds somewhat angular, smooth, brown; embryo straight, spathulate, surrounded by thick, rather starchy and hard endosperm, leaving a hole around radicle base; cotyledons thin, leafy, radicle almost cylindric.
Distribution:
Species 12, trop. Africa with 1 of them also in tropical Asia; sthn trop. Afr. 2, Angola (Cabinda), Mozambique.
Source:
SSTA

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:56 -- Emily Smith
Margaretta

Oliv.
Description:
Herbaceous perennials with a carrot-shaped tuberous rootstock; stems usually simple. Leaves opposite, subsessile. Inflorescence terminal and lateral, umbellate. Corolla deeply 5-lobed, commonly revolute. Corona 5-lobed, petaloid, more showy than corolla, variable in shape, 2- or 3-toothed on claw. Style head capitate, hemispherical, subconical, truncate or obtuse. Follicles in pairs, fusiform, beaked, smooth, pubescent; fruiting pedicel not contorted.
Distribution:
Monotypic genus: Margaretta rosea Oliv., trop. Africa; sthn trop. Afr. 2 subspecies, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique.
Source:
SSTA

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:56 -- Emily Smith
Mascarenhasia

A.DC.
Description:
Shrubs or small trees with milky latex; spines and tendrils absent. Leaves opposite, obovate-oblong, oblong or elliptic; with petiolar glands; without domatia; stipules absent. Flowers often large and conspicuous, solitary or in few-flowered fasciculate cymes, terminal. Calyx : lobes imbricate, free to base, with many glandular scales inside at base. Corolla hypocrateriform; tube divided into 2 distinct regions of varying shape and proportions; lobes 5, with induplicate aestivation, straight in bud or twisted to the right. Stamens 5, sessile, inserted at base of upper region of corolla tube; anthers conniving in a cone around gynoecium, polliniferous in upper part only, joined to clavuncle by a retinacle. Receptacular disc cupular or represented by separate oppositipetalous scales, these sometimes united in pairs. Ovary of 2 free multi-ovulate carpels, glabrous or hairy; style pubescent; clavuncle swollen; stigma pointed or flared at apex, not bifid. Fruit of 2 follicular mericarps. Seeds linear-compressed with an apical coma; endosperm absent.
Distribution:
Species 10, 9 endemic to Madagascar and 1 distributed from Madagascar and the Comores to trop. Africa; sthn trop. Afr. 1: Mascarenhasia arborescens A.DC., Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique.
Source:
SSTA
Synonym(s):
Lanugia N.E.Br.; Burtt Davy et al.: 27 (1958).

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:56 -- Emily Smith

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