Description:
Erect, glabrous shrubs, not or little branched. Leaves alternate, clustered near tips of branchlets, petiolate, persistent, elongate-obovate or -spathulate, apex rounded but tip abruptly long-acuminate, long-attenuate towards base, subcoriaceous, +/- sharply serrate-dentate; lateral nerves 14-18 pairs, prominent on both faces; stipules lanceolate, caducous. Inflorescence epiphyllous, 1-3(4)-flowered, on midrib of upper ?-3/4 of lamina, glabrous; median bract ovate-lanceolate, accrescent. Flowers bisexual or unisexual (plants polygamous), pedicelled. Sepals 3 or 4(5), imbricate, rather irregular and dry, ovate, ciliolate. Petals 4-6, imbricate, thin, much larger than sepals, ciliate. Stamens 25-40, free; filaments subulate; anthers almost basifixed, longitudinally dehiscent, apiculate by protruding connective. Ovary superior, glabrous, 1-locular, with 2-4 multi-ovulate parietal placentas; style simple, shortly 2-4-fid. Capsule opening with 2 or 3 valves; pericarp woody. Seeds weakly arillate, with endosperm.
Distribution:
Species 5, trop. Africa; sthn trop. Afr. 1: Phyllobotryon paradoxum (Baill.) Hul, Angola.
Source:
SSTA
Synonym(s):
Phylloclinium Baill.; Exell & Mendonca: 361 (1937/1951); Sleumer: 29 (1975).
Classification:
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