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

Rhamnaceae - Scutia (DC.) Brongn.

Description :

  • Shrubs, unarmed or spiny
  • Leaves opposite, subopposite or approximating in pairs, shortly petioled, entire or toothed; stipules minute, deciduous
  • Flowers in simple, axillary umbels, slightly longer than petioles
  • Calyx 5-lobed, somewhat fleshy; tube urceolate or campanulate; lobes keeled on inner face
  • Petals 5, shorter than calyx, shortly clawed
  • Disc inconspicuous, lining calyx tube
  • Stamens 5, subequalling petals
  • Ovary superior, 2- or 4-locular
  • Fruit an ovoid or subglobose, dry or somewhat fleshy drupe
  • Seeds usually solitary

Nomenclature:

  • Scutia (DC.) Brongn.
    • Brongniart: 362 (1827) name conserved
    • Sonder: 477 (1860)
    • Drummond: 428 (1966)

Distribution & Notes:

  • Global : Species 3, fairly cosmopolitan in tropical parts
  • Southern Africa : Species 1: Scutia myrtina (Burm.f.) Kurz., Northern Province, Mpumalanga, Swaziland, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal, mostly in scrub bush of Eastern Cape, but extending to Western Cape

References:

  • BRONGNIART, A.T. 1827. Annales des sciences naturelles 10. Paris
  • DRUMMOND, R.B. 1966. Rhamnaceae . Flora zambesiaca 2
  • SONDER, O.W. 1860. Rhamneae , R.Br. Flora capensis 1