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

Lecythidaceae - Barringtonia J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.

Description :

  • Trees (mangroves)
  • Leaves alternate, simple, bunched at ends of branches, sometimes with large glands on margin, glabrous; stipules small
  • Flowers bisexual, regular, ± showy, in racemes
  • Calyx 2-4-lobed, leathery; tube obconical, ± quadrangular; lobes valvate or slightly imbricate, unequal, elliptic
  • Petals 4, adnate to staminal tube, free
  • Stamens very many, in several series; filaments united at base; anthers 2-thecous, usually basifixed, opening by longitudinal slits
  • Ovary inferior or semi-inferior, 2-4-locular, with 2-many axile ovules in each locule; style simple, longer than stamens; stigma truncate
  • Fruit fleshy, becoming spongy, crowned with persistent calyx, 1-seeded
  • x = 13 (polyploidy)

Nomenclature:

  • Barringtonia J.R.Forst. & G.Forst.
    • Forster & Forster: t. 28 (1776) name conserved
    • Sonder: 523 (1862)
    • Fernandes: 216 (1978)
    • Tsou: 64 (1994)

Distribution & Notes:

  • Global : Species 110, mostly East Indies, rare in Africa and Australia
  • Southern Africa : Species 1: Barringtonia racemosa (L.) Spreng., KwaZulu-Natal, watercourses near coast

References:

  • FERNANDES, A. 1978. Barringtonia J.R. & G.Forst. Flora zambesiaca 4
  • FORSTER, J.R. & FORSTER, G. 1776. Barringtonia . Characteres generum plantarum . White, Cadell & Elmsby, London
  • SONDER, O.W. 1862. Barringtonia (under Myrtaceae ). Flora capensis 2
  • TSOU, CHIH-HUA 1994. The embryology, reproductive morphology, and systematics of Lecythidaceae . Memoirs of the New York Botanical Garden 71