e-Key v3 - Erythrophysa
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Interactive keys to the identification of seed plants of southern Africa using keys based on plant morphology.

Sapindaceae - Erythrophysa E.Mey. ex Arn.

Description :

  • Shrubs or small trees
  • Leaves imparipinnate; leaflets in 5-12 pairs, elliptic to linear; leaf rachis narrowly to conspicuously winged
  • Flowers bisexual; in corymbs or panicles
  • Sepals usually 4, ± fused at base to form a cup-shaped calyx, oblique at base; lobes elliptic
  • Petals 4, with long, terete claw; limb oblong, hooded at base and with a scale or 3-lobed appendage; red
  • Disc cup-shaped or flat
  • Stamens 8, arising in a bundle beneath a fleshy gland at one side of flower where fifth petal is deficient; filaments exserted, subterete, hairy; anthers versatile
  • Ovary 3-locular, 3-angled, stalked; with 2 ovules in each locule; style short, obtuse
  • Fruit an inflated, beaked bladder
  • Seeds usually solitary in each locule, hard, purple or black, ± size of pea

Nomenclature:

  • Erythrophysa E.Mey. ex Arn.
    • Arnott: 258 (1841), as Erythrophila
    • Sonder: 237 (1860)
    • Hutchinson: 150 (1932)
    • Verdcourt: 201 (1962)

Distribution & Notes:

  • Global : Species 5, Africa; 1 species in Ethiopia, 2 species in Madagascar
  • Southern Africa : Species 2, 1 mainly in dry areas of Namaqualand (Northern Cape) and Free State, the other in Northern Province

References:

  • ARNOTT, G.A.W. 1841. On some South African plants XIX. Hooker's Journal of Botany 3
  • HUTCHINSON, J. 1932. XVII. Erythrophysa alata . Kew Bulletin 1932
  • SONDER, O.W. 1860. Sapindaceae . Flora capensis 1
  • VERDCOURT, B. 1962. A new species of Erythrophysa E.Mey. ex Arn. ( Sapindaceae ) from Ethiopia. Journal of the Linnean Society, Botany 58