Leaves
alternate, simple, entire, very minutely translucent-punctate, petiolate; petiole longitudinally grooved or narrowly canaliculate along upper surface; stipules early caducous, leaving a conspicuous, ± semicircular scar
Flowers
in terminal racemes with male ones in spikes of few-flowered fascicles and with pedicels articulated near base; bracts broad, soon caducous, overlapping when young in cone-like clusters at tips of branchlets
Male flowers
: calyx membranous; sepals valvate in bud and splitting into 2 segments on opening; petals 4 or 5, free, imbricate; disc of 4 or 5(6) fleshy glands alternating with petals; stamens 15-30, with filaments erect in bud and arising from a central, cone-like receptacle; anthers subcordate with a somewhat fleshy, glabrous connective; anthers inclined and dehiscing longitudinally; ovary absent
Female flowers
: sepals (4)5, free, imbricate; disc saucer-shaped; ovary 3-5-locular; ovules solitary in each locule; styles 3-5, bifid
Fruit
a large capsule, 3-5-lobed, of 3-5 bivalved cocci; pericarp thin, crustaceous; endocarp thick, woody; columella large, persistent
Seeds
ecarunculate, ovoid-subglobose
Nomenclature:
Cavacoa
J.Léonard
Léonard: 320 (1955)
Radcliffe-Smith: 174 (1987)
Webster: 115 (1994)
Radcliffe-Smith: 304 (1996)
Distribution & Notes:
Global
: Species 3, Africa
Southern Africa
: Species 1:
Cavacoa aurea
(Cavaco) J.Léonard; Kenya, Mozambique to KwaZulu-Natal
References:
LÉONARD, J. 1955. A propos des genres africains
Grossera
Pax et
Cavacoa
J. Léonard.
Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de l'État Bruxelles
25
RADCLIFFE-SMITH, A. 1987.
Euphorbiaceae
.
Flora of tropical East Africa
.
Euphorbiaceae
Part 1
RADCLIFFE-SMITH, A. 1996.
Euphorbiaceae
.
Flora zambesiaca
9, 4
WEBSTER, G.L. 1994. Synopsis of the genera and suprageneric taxa of
Euphorbiaceae
.
Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden
81
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