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

Euphorbiaceae - Phyllanthoideae - Phyllantheae - Margaritaria L.f.

Description :

  • Shrubs or trees; dioecious, rarely monoecious
  • Leaves distichous, shortly petiolate, entire; stipulate
  • Inflorescence axillary; male flowers several, fasciculate; female solitary or few per axil
  • Petals 0
  • Male flowers : sepals 4, membranous, free or slightly connate at base, imbricate; disc annular, entire; stamens 4, filaments free; ovary absent
  • Female flowers : pedicels stouter than in male; sepals, petals and disc as in male; ovary (2)3- or 4(5)-locular, with 2 ovules in each locule; styles 3, free or partly connate, usually bifid or bilobed
  • Fruit a capsule, dry or somewhat fleshy, irregularly dehiscent; exocarp green, usually separating from crustaceous endocarp
  • Seeds hemispherical; sarcotesta fleshy, bluish; sclerotesta thick, woody; chalaza invaginated; albumen fleshy; embryo straight; cotyledons thin, flat
  • x = 13

Nomenclature:

  • Margaritaria L.f.
    • Linnaeus f.: 66 (1782)
    • Webster: 407 (1979)
    • Radcliffe-Smith: 32 (1996)

Distribution & Notes:

  • Global : Species 13; pantropical
  • Southern Africa : Species 1, widespread in tropical and southern Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Northern Province, Mpumalanga, KwaZulu-Natal

References:

  • LINNAEUS, C. f. 1782 ('1781'). Supplementum plantarum . Impensis Orphanotrophei, Braunschweig
  • RADCLIFFE-SMITH, A. 1996. Euphorbiaceae . Flora zambesiaca 9, 4
  • WEBSTER, G.L. 1979. A revision of Margaritaria ( Euphorbiaceae ). Journal Arnold Arboretum 60