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

Sapotaceae - Sideroxylon L.

Description :

  • Trees or shrubs
  • Leaves dark green, glossy on upper surface
  • Flowers 5-merous throughout, all whorls single
  • Corolla lobes without lateral appendages
  • Stamens arising from throat of corolla tube; staminodes petaloid, with a broad base, alternipetalous
  • Ovary with basally attached seed
  • Fruit 1-seeded
  • Seeds depressed-globose, usually ± 4- or 5-angled and somewhat ribbed, with small, circular scar in a basal depression; testa thick, bony; endosperm copious; cotyledons thin
  • x = 12, 13

Nomenclature:

  • Sideroxylon L.
    • Linnaeus: 192 (1753)
    • Harvey & Wright: 438 (1906)
    • Meeuse: 322 (1960)
    • Meeuse: 33 (1963)
    • Kupicha: 230 (1983)
    • Pennington: 166 (1991)

Distribution & Notes:

  • Global : Species ± 75: 49 in the Neotropics, ± 25 elsewhere (6 Africa, 6 Madagascar, 8 Mascarenes, 4 Asia, 1 in NW Pakistan, Afghanistan, Oman, Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti)
  • Southern Africa : Species 1: Sideroxylon inerme L., in subtropical and temperate forests of the Northern Province, Mpumalanga, Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal, Western and Eastern Cape

References:

  • HARVEY, W.H. & WRIGHT, C.H. 1906. Sapotaceae . Flora capensis 4,1
  • KUPICHA, F.K. 1983. Sapotaceae . Flora zambesiaca 7,1
  • LINNAEUS, C. 1753. Species plantarum . Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
  • MEEUSE, A.D.J. 1960. Notes on the Sapotaceae of southern Africa. Bothalia 7
  • MEEUSE, A.D.J. 1963. Sapotaceae . Flora of southern Africa 26
  • PENNINGTON, T.D. 1991. The genera of Sapotaceae . Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew & The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx