e-Key v3 - Rhamnus
SANBI Flora Keys Logo
Interactive keys to the identification of seed plants of southern Africa using keys based on plant morphology.

Rhamnaceae - Rhamnus L.

Description :

  • Shrubs or small trees
  • Leaves alternate or opposite, simple, petioled, entire or toothed; stipules small, usually deciduous
  • Flowers bisexual or sometimes with some male and female flowers on different plants, in axillary cymes or racemes
  • Calyx urceolate or flat; lobes 4 or 5, erect or spreading, keeled on inner face
  • Petals (0)4 or 5, cucullate or flat
  • Disc inconspicuous, lining calyx tube
  • Stamens 4 or 5, shorter than calyx lobes
  • Ovary superior, sometimes immersed in disc, 2- or 4-locular; styles 2-4, free or united
  • Fruit a fleshy or dry drupe, globose or oblong in outline
  • Seed obovoid
  • x = 12 (aneuploids)

Nomenclature:

  • Rhamnus L.
    • Linnaeus: 93 (1753)
    • Sonder: 476 (1860)
    • Drummond: 427 (1966)
    • Johnston: 17 (1972)

Distribution & Notes:

  • Global : Species ± 125, ± cosmopolitan
  • Southern Africa : Species 1: Rhamnus prinoides L'Hér., Northern Province, North-West, Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Swaziland, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, Lesotho, Western and Eastern Cape

References:

  • DRUMMOND, R.B. 1966. Rhamnaceae . Flora zambesiaca 2
  • JOHNSTON, M.C. 1972. Flora of tropical East Africa . Rhamnaceae
  • LINNAEUS, C. 1753. Species plantarum . Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
  • SONDER, O.W. 1860. Rhamneae , R.Br. Flora capensis 1