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

Santalaceae - Osyridicarpos A.DC.

Description :

  • Climbing shrubs with long, slender branches; stems scandent
  • Leaves alternate, shortly petiolate, oblong to lanceolate, 3-nerved
  • Inflorescence a terminal raceme, with small bracteoles
  • Flowers bisexual, small, green, subtended by 1 bract and 2 minute bracteoles
  • Perianth : tube cylindrical, adnate to ovary below; lobes 5, with tuft of hairs attached to back of anthers
  • Stamens 5; anthers ovoid
  • Disc obscure
  • Ovary : ovules 2 or 3, pendulous from apex of a flexuous, filiform, central placenta; style simple; stigma capitate
  • Fruit a drupe, crowned with persistent perianth lobes

Nomenclature:

  • Osyridicarpos A.DC.
    • Candolle: 635 (1857)
    • Bentham: 222 (1880)
    • Hieronymus: 223 (1889)
    • Baker & Hill: 431 (1911)
    • Hill: 206 (1915a)
    • Hill: 100 (1915b)
    • Pilger: 84 (1935)
    • Stauffer: 400 (1961)
    • Miller: 382 (1989)

Distribution & Notes:

  • Global : Monotypic: Osyridicarpos schimperianus (Hochst. ex Rich.) A.DC., Africa, from Ethiopia to southern Africa
  • Southern Africa : Northern Province, Mpumalanga, Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape

References:

  • BAKER, J.G. & HILL, A.W. 1911. Santalaceae . Flora of tropical Africa 6,1
  • BENTHAM, G. 1880. Santalaceae . In G. Bentham & J.D. Hooker, Genera plantarum 3. Lovell Reeve & Co., London
  • CANDOLLE, A.L.P.P. DE. 1857. Santalaceae . In A.P. de Candolle, Prodromus 14. Masson & Sons, Paris
  • HIERONYMUS, G. 1889. Santalaceae . Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien III,1
  • HILL, A.W. 1915a. Santalaceae . Flora capensis 5,2
  • HILL, A.W. 1915b. Notes on South African Santalaceae . Kew Bulletin 1915
  • MILLER, A.G. 1989. Santalaceae . Flora of Ethiopia 3
  • PILGER, R. 1935. Santalaceae . Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien 2,16b
  • STAUFFER, H.U. 1961. Santalales-Studien V-VIII. Vierteljahrsschrift der Naturforschenden Gesellschaft in Zürich 106