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Bennettiodendron cordatum

Overview

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Vulnerable
Threat status

Description

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Family Flacourtiaceae

Trees or shrubs , hermaphroditic , monoecious, dioecious, or polygamous, evergreen or deciduous; trunk , branches, and branchlets sometimes spiny ; hairs simple , rarely T-shaped or stellate . Leaves simple, usually alternate, rarely opposite or verticillate , sometimes crowded at apices of branches; stipules usually small and caducous , sometimes larger, leaflike and persistent , rarely absent; petiole generally present, sometimes with apex 2-glandular and/or with additional glands along petiole length; leaf blade usually pinnate-veined, sometimes 3-5-veined from base or palmate-veined, with or without pellucid dots or lines , sometimes with a pair of glands at junction of blade and petiole, margin entire or toothed , teeth glandular or not. Inflorescences axillary , terminal , or cauliflorous , of various forms: racemose, spicate , cymose , corymbose , or paniculate , sometimes flowers fasciculate, or solitary; pedicels often articulate ; bracts and bracteoles usually small to minute. Flowers radially symmetric , bisexual or unisexual , hypogynous, perigynous, or epigynous ; perianth cyclic , rarely spiral , in unisexual flowers remnants of opposite sex present or absent. Sepals imbricate or valvate , rarely spathaceous , mostly (2 or) 3-6, rarely more, usually free or connate at base only, sometimes partly united into a tube , caducous or persistent, rarely accrescent . Petals 3-8, rarely more, often isomerous and alternating with sepals, free, imbricate or valvate, rarely contorted, similar to sepals or not, sometimes with a fleshy adaxial basal scale , or petals absent. Disk present, entire, lobed , or comprised of free or connate disk glands, these extrastaminal , interstaminal, or intrastaminal (bisexual or staminate flowers ), or extragynoecial (pistillate flowers), or disk absent. Stamens 1 to many (ca. 100), 1- or many seriate , sometimes in epipetalous bundles, or on margin of cupular disk or rim of calyx tube; filaments free, rarely united into a column; anthers 2-thecate, usually longitudinally dehiscent , rarely opening by terminal pores, connective sometimes shortly projected or glandular. Ovary superior or semi-inferior, 1-loculed, with 2-9 parietal placentas, rarely incompletely 2-9(or more) -celled by placentas protruding deeply into locule; ovules 2 or more on each placenta, orthotropous , anatropous , or hemi-anatropous; styles isomerous with placentas, free or partly to completely united, rarely absent, stigmas small or large, capitate to flattened and branched. Fruit capsular or baccate , rarely a drupe, pericarp mostly smooth , sometimes winged or bristly . Seeds 1 to many, with or without a fleshy sometimes brightly colored sarcotesta and/or aril, sometimes with long hairs, or broadly winged; endosperm usually copious and fleshy; embryo straight or curved ; cotyledons usually broad, often cordate.

About 87 genera and ca. 900 species: mostly in tropical and subtropical regions, some extending into the temperate zone; 12 genera (one endemic) and 39 species (nine endemic) in China; four additional species (all endemic) are poorly known (see Homalium) .[1]

Genus Bennettiodendron

Shrubs or small trees , reportedly dioecious, young shoots with a perular bud, perular bracts persistent . Leaves alternate, uppermost often clustered at apices of branches; estipulate; petiole mostly elongate , shorter in upper leaves, with a pair of glands at apex only or glands completely absent; leaf blade pinnate-veined, sometimes 3-5-veined from base with lateral veins much weaker than midvein , margin ± coarsely glandular-serrate. Flowers hypogynous, small, unisexual , rarely at least structurally bisexual , in axillary or terminal , paniculate , rarely corymblike or racemelike inflorescences; bracts and bracteoles small, caducous ; pedicels articulate . Sepals 3(-5), imbricate, free or joined at base only, small, ciliate , caducous, rarely persistent. Petals absent. Disk glands present, small, dispersed among stamen or staminode bases. Staminate flowers : stamens many; filaments free, filiform , pubescent with long hairs in lower half, rarely glabrous ; anthers elliptic , small, dorsifixed , versatile; disk glands many, set between the stamen filament bases, small, short, fleshy , glabrous; abortive ovary small, with 3 short styles. Pistillate flowers: staminodes many, like the stamens but smaller and sterile , filaments less than 1/2 as long as those of staminate flowers, pubescent at base; disk glands many, small, truncate , set between staminode bases; ovary superior, incompletely 3-loculed; placentas 3, each with 2 or 3 ovules; styles 2-4, not or scarcely joined at base, divergent, slender, each dilated at apex into a flattened irregularly branched or lobed stigma, caducous. Berry globose , small, rather dry; style caducous or basal part persistent; pericarp thin, brittle when dried. Seeds 1(-4), yellowish when fresh, blackish when dry, shiny; testa slightly reticulate .

Two or three species: Asia; one species in China.[2]

Taxonomy

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Notes

Publishing author : Merr. Publication : J. Arnold Arbor . 1939, xx. 352.

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Bennettiodendron

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 6 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

B. brevipes · B. cordatum · B. lanceolatum · B. leprosipes · B. macrophyllum · B. shangsiense

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Qiner Yang & Sue Zmarzty "Flacourtiaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 13 Page 112, 138. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Bennettiodendron". in Flora of China Vol. 13 Page 113, 114, 123. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 2009-07-03