genus descriptions: SSTAs

Codiaeum

A.Juss.
Description:
Monoecious or occasionally dioecious shrubs or small trees with a simple indumentum, or glabrous. Leaves alternate, petiolate, minutely stipulate or stipules absent, simple, entire or 3-lobed, occasionally the lamina contorted or interrupted along the midrib, penninerved, eglandular or +/- so. Inflorescence s axillary or subterminal, racemose, solitary or paired, usually unisexual, pedunculate; male bracts 1-6-flowered; female bracts l-flowered. Male flowers : pedicels slender, jointed; sepals (3)5(6), closely imbricate; petals (3)5(6), small, minute or 0; disc glands 5-15, free, alternipetalous; stamens 15-100, filaments free, anthers erect, extrorse, dorsifixed, connective broad, thecae apically confluent, longitudinally dehiscent; pistillode absent. Female flowers : pedicels shorter and stouter than in the male, not jointed; sepals smaller than in the male, otherwise +/- similar; petals absent; disc shallowly cupular, subentire or shallowly 5-lobed; ovary 3-locular, 1 ovule per locule; styles 3, shortly connate at the base, spreading or recurved, usually simple. Fruit globose or 3-lobed, dehiscing septicidally into 3 bivalved cocci; pericarp thin; endocarp thinly woody; columella persistent. Seed s ovoid to subglobose, carunculate; testa smooth, shiny, marmorate, crustaceous; albumen fleshy; cotyledons broad, flat.
Distribution:
Species 16, ranging from Malaysia to N Australia and Polynesia; *Codiaeum variegatum (L.) A.Juss. is widely cultivated in the tropics, often becoming naturalised.
Source:
SSTA

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:53 -- Emily Smith
Discoglypremna

Prain
Description:
Dioecious trees with simple indumentum. Leaves alternate to pseudoverticillate, petiolate, simple, subentire to shallowly toothed, subtriplinerved and penninerved, with a pair of glands toward base of lamina; stipules soon deciduous. Inflorescences terminal, paniculate, panicle branches pseudospicate or racemose; bracts small to minute, entire, those of male inflorescences many-flowered, those of female ones 1-flowered. Male flowers on short articulate pedicels; calyx ovoid-ellipsoid in buds, later splitting into 3 or 4 valvate lobes; petals 0; disc composed of +/- 15 densely pubescent extra- and intrastaminal glands; stamens (6-)8(-15), filaments free, fairly long, flexuose, anthers subapicifixed, introrse, thecae free at base, pendulous from a produced conical connective, each unequally bilocellate, with larger locellus on outside, +/- longitudinally dehiscent; pistillode 0. Female flowers on short articulate pedicels; calyx (4)5-lobed, lobes valvate, later strongly reflexed; petals 0; disc composed of 6-8 thick scale-like glands truncate and pubescent at apex; ovary 3-locular, with 1 ovule per locule; styles 3, free, entire, recurved-spreading, fimbriate. Fruit 3-lobed, loculicidally dehiscent into 3 valves, or septicidally into 3 bivalved cocci; exocarp slightly fleshy; endocarp crustaceous; columella persistent, narrow, triquetrous. Seeds ovoid; exotesta pseudoarillate, fleshy, red; mesotesta thick, indurated, foveolate, shiny, black; endotesta distinct, grey; endosperm fleshy; cotyledons broad, flat.
Distribution:
Monotypic genus: Discoglypremna caloneura (Pax) Prain, trop. Africa; sthn trop. Afr.: Angola (Cabinda).
Source:
SSTA

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:53 -- Emily Smith
Elaeophorbia

Stapf
Description:
Monoecious, glabrous trees with a large rounded crown and copious caustic milky latex; branches ascending or spreading, fleshy, spiny, terminal branchlets obtusely 5-angled, becoming cylindric; spine shields very obtusely triangular. Leaves persistent at branch apices, fleshy; petiole subtended by a pair of short spines and vestigial stipules; blade obovate, tapering to petiole, entire, apex rounded or slightly emarginate. Inflorescences with cyathia in simple or dichotomous axillary cymes; bracts paired, persistent; involucres shallowly cup-shaped with 5 spreading glands around rim and 5 alternating lobes with denticulate margins. Male flowers : bracteoles fan-shaped; stamens many, well exserted. Female flower subsessile or shortly pedicellate in fruit; perianth entirely absent; ovary 3-locular with thickened fleshy walls and 1 pendulous ovule per locule; styles very short, with thickened bifid stigmas. Fruit drupaceous; exocarp thick, fleshy; endocarp woody, with a pore at base and each locule marked with a shallow longitudinal groove and a pore between grooves near apex. Seeds without caruncle.
Distribution:
Species 4, tropical W Africa; sthn trop. Afr. 1: Elaeophorbia hiernii Croizat (= Euphorbia grandifolia Hiern not of Haw.), Angola.
Source:
SSTA
Synonym(s):
Euphorbia L. in part; Hiern: 944 (1900).

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:53 -- Emily Smith
Endadenium

L.C.Leach
Description:
Monoecious, unarmed, lacticiferous, succulent shrubs up to 3 m high; stem +/- cylindric, relatively slender; branches randomly or subverticillately arranged, arcuate-ascending or ascending, sparingly rebranched, knobby from somewhat tubercular leaf bases when young. Leaves deciduous, spirally arranged, often +/- crowded towards apex of new growth, fleshy, rigid, obovate, glabrous, almost sessile, with a dark brown, often acute or spiky gland on each side at base; margin shallowly crenulate or serrulate, serrulations usually tipped with a small, brown, scarcely pungent tooth similar to apical mucro; upper surface +/- flat to slightly concave, lower surface usually keeled. Inflorescence a compound dichasium of cernuous, bracteate heads, axillary on new season
Distribution:
Monotypic genus: Endadenium gossweileri (N.E.Br.) L.C.Leach, Angola. Perhaps not distinct from Monadenium (Webster 1994: 130).
Source:
SSTA

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:53 -- Emily Smith
Euphorbia

L.
Description:
Sthn trop. Afr. 150, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, and sthn Afr. *Euphorbia leucocephala Lotsy, an introduced ornamental, has become invasive, particularly in some urban areas [Coates Palgrave: 460 (2002)]. Chamaesyce is sometimes treated as a genus distinct from Euphorbia. The following characters in combination distinguish it from Euphorbia : Annual or perennial herbs with milky latex, with main axis aborting above cotyledons. Leaves opposite, inaequilateral at base; veins surrounded by a chlorenchyma sheath; stipules present, interpetiolar. Seeds usually ecarunculate. Archer: 255 (2000) argues for considering Chamaesyce a subgenus of Euphorbia.
Source:
SSTA
Synonym(s):
Chamaesyce S.F.Gray: 260 (1821); Koutnik: 262 (1984); Webster: 129 (1994); Radcliffe-Smith: 415 (2001).

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:53 -- Emily Smith
Maesobotrya

Benth.
Description:
Dioecious trees or shrubs with a simple indumentum. Leaves alternate, often long-petiolate, stipulate, simple, entire or toothed, penninerved; petioles bipulvinate; stipules minute and deciduous (or foliaceous and persistent elsewhere). Inflorescence s axillary (or cauliflorous elsewhere), solitary (or fasciculate elsewhere), racemose (or subspicate elsewhere); bracts usually 1-flowered; flowers shortly pedicellate. Male flowers : calyx (4)5-lobed, imbricate; petals absent; disc glands (4)5, alternating with the stamens, fleshy, contiguous; stamens (4)5(6), opposite the sepals; filaments free; anthers erect, dorsifixed, introrse, thecae parallel, longitudinally dehiscent; pistillode cylindric, not lobed. Female flowers : calyx as in the male; petals absent; disc hypogynous, cupular, entire; ovary (1)2(4)-locular, with 2 ovules per locule; styles short; stigmas bifid, recurved. Fruit subglobose or ellipsoid, subdrupaceous, tardily loculicidally dehiscent; pericarp thin; endocarp 1-locular by suppression. Seed s solitary by abortion, ellipsoid, ecarunculate; testa thin; albumen copious; cotyledons broad, flat, green.
Distribution:
Species +/- 20, all in W trop. Africa, except 1 in Uganda; sthn trop. Afr. 2 (but most probably further spp. in N Angola), Angola, Zambia.
Source:
SSTA

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:53 -- Emily Smith
Mallotus

Lour.
Description:
Dioecious, or rarely monoecious trees or shrubs often with a stellate, or sometimes simple or mixed, indumentum. Leaves opposite or alternate, sometimes anisophyllous, petiolate, stipulate, sometimes lobed, entire or toothed, with 2 or more basal glands on upper surface, and often pellucid-gland-dotted on upper and lower surfaces, penni- or palminerved. Inflorescence s unisexual, spicate, racemose or paniculate, terminal, subterminal or axillary, few- to many-flowered; male flowers commonly in fascicles along the axis, female flowers 1-2 per bract. Male flowers : calyx usually globose in bud, later valvately (2)3-4(5)-partite; petals absent; disc glands absent or many, free, dispersed amongst stamens; stamens many, on a slightly elevated receptacle, filaments free, anthers subdorsifixed with a variable connective, longitudinally dehiscent; pistillode absent or rarely minute. Female flowers : calyx shallowly to deeply imbricately or valvately 3-5(-10)-lobed, persistent, or subspathaceous and caducous; petals absent; disc absent; ovary (2)3(4)-locular, with 1 ovule per locule; styles free or connate at base, simple, recurved, papillose or plumose. Fruit s globose or (2)3(4)-lobed, smooth or echinate, dehiscing septicidally into bivalved cocci leaving a +/- 3-winged persistent columella; endocarp crustaceous. Seed s globose or ovoid, ecarunculate, outer testa slightly fleshy or soft, inner testa crustaceous, smooth or rugulose, endosperm fleshy, cotyledons broad, flat.
Distribution:
Species +/- 140, Old World, in the Indo-Pacific area, with 2 species in trop. Africa; sthn trop. Afr. 1: Mallotus oppositifolius (Geisel.) Mull.Arg., Angola, Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique.
Source:
SSTA

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:53 -- Emily Smith
Microstachys

A.Juss.
Description:
Monoecious perennial herbs with several short erect stems arising from a thick, much-branched woody rootstock; indumentum of multicellular, branched or unbranched, colourless hairs; latex white. Leaves alternate, shortly petiolate, blades simple, obovate, elliptic, lanceolate or linear, entire to minutely serrulate, often with 1 or 2 glands on the margin towards the base; stipules minute, soon deciduous. Inflorescences terminal on main axes, overtopped by lateral leafy shoots, spicate or racemiform, mostly male with 1-4 female flowers at base. Male flowers with short pedicels; calyx lobes 3(4), triangular, with reddish tinge; petals 0; stamens 3(4), free; male bracts with 2 fleshy stipitate glands, one on each side. Female flowers subsessile to shortly stalked in fruit; calyx lobes 3(4), larger than in male flowers, often alternating with minute glands; ovary 3-lobed, each lobe with 2 (or more) +/- conical appedages, styles 3. Fruit 3-lobed, septicidally dehiscent into 3 bivalved cocci, each valve with a small appendage. Seeds subcylindric, smooth, slightly shiny, pale grey, with a fleshy caruncle.
Distribution:
Species +/- 15, pantropical: 1 in Asia and Australia, 3 or 4 in Africa, the remainder in S America; sthn trop. Afr. 1:Microstachys acetosella(Milne-Redh.) Esser ( =Sapium acetosellaMilne-Redh.), Angola, Zambia.
Source:
SSTA
Synonym(s):
Sapium Jacq. in part as to some African species; Leonard: 151 (1962); Radcliffe-Smith: 318 (1996).

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:53 -- Emily Smith
Mildbraedia

Pax
Description:
Dioecious shrubs or small trees; indumentum stellate, sometimes also simple. Leaves alternate, stipulate, long-petiolate, simple, entire or sometimes (in west and central Africa) deeply 2-3-lobed, subentire to repand-dentate, palminerved; stipules subulate, deciduous. Inflorescence s axillary or supra-axillary, solitary, pedunculate, simply racemose or with flowers in racemes of 1-flowered (female inflorescences) or many-flowered (male inflorescences) cymes; bracts resembling stipules. Male flowers : calyx deeply 5(6)-lobed, or sepals free, imbricate; petals 5(6), free, imbricate; disc glands 5, free, fleshy, opposite sepals; stamens 10-25, outer ones +/- free, inner ones united into a column, anthers small, introrse, dorsifixed, longitudinally dehiscent; pistillode absent. Female flowers : sepals and petals resembling those of male flowers, but slightly larger; disc hypogynous, annular, shallowly 5-lobed; ovary 3-locular, with 1 ovule per locule; styles 3, slightly connate at base, deeply bifid to bipartite, spreading. Fruit 3-lobed, dehiscing septicidally into 3 bivalved cocci; endocarp thinly woody; columella persistent. Seed s ovoid-subglobose; testa crustaceous, smooth, somewhat shiny, mottled; caruncle foliaceous, appressed.
Distribution:
Species 4, trop. Africa; sthn trop. Afr. 2, Angola, Mozambique.
Source:
SSTA

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:53 -- Emily Smith
Necepsia

Prain
Description:
Dioecious or monoecious trees with a simple indumentum; buds often with protective scales. Leaves alternate, petiolate, stipulate, simple, crenate-serrate to subentire, chartaceous or subcoriaceous, penninerved, sparingly gland-dotted on lower surface; petioles often pulvinate and geniculate. Inflorescence s axillary, solitary or congested, pedunculate or sessile, spicate, racemose or subpaniculate, unisexual or bisexual; bracts rigid, +/- scarious. Male flowers shortly pedicellate; calyx closed in bud, ovoid, apiculate, later splitting into 4 or 5 valvate lobes; petals absent; stamens many, inserted on a globose receptacle, filaments free, anthers with slightly oblique pendulous thecae, apicifixed, introrse, longitudinally dehiscent, connective produced; disc glands free; pistillode absent. Femaleflowers subsessile or very shortly pedicellate; sepals (4)5(6), imbricate, persistent; petals absent; disc hypogynous, annular or cupuliform, entire or +/- crenulate, thick, pubescent or setose; ovary 3-celled, with 1 ovule per cell; styles 3, +/- free or connate at base, bifid or bipartite, papillose. Fruit tricoccous, or dicoccous by abortion, dehiscing septicidally into 3 bivalved cocci leaving a columella; endocarp thinly woody. Seed s subglobose, ecarunculate.
Distribution:
Species 3, tropical Africa and Madagascar; sthn trop. Afr. 2, Angola, Zimbabwe.
Source:
SSTA

Mon, 2009-03-23 12:53 -- Emily Smith

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