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

Rosaceae - Maloideae - *Pyracantha M.Roem.

Description :

  • Evergreen shrubs, usually spiny; buds small, softly hairy
  • Leaves alternate, simple, entire, shortly petiolate; stipules minute, caducous
  • Inflorescence a compound corymb
  • Flowers bisexual, small
  • Calyx : tube short; lobes 5, triangular
  • Petals suborbicular, often with a notched apex, white or creamy
  • Stamens 20; anthers yellow
  • Ovary half-inferior; carpels 5, free on central axis, joined on dorsal side for ± half their length to calyx tube; ovules 2 per carpel; styles free
  • Fruit small, globose, red, orange or yellow berries, crowned by persistent calyx lobes; pyrenes 5
  • x = 17

Nomenclature:

  • *Pyracantha M.Roem.
    • Roemer: 219 (1847)
    • Ball: 73 (1968)
    • Browicz: 132 (1972)
    • Bailey & Bailey: 930 (1977)
    • Knees: 438 (1995)

Distribution & Notes:

  • Global : Species ± 9, native of SE Europe, Caucasia, NW Iran and China; cultivated for its ornamental berries
  • Southern Africa : Species 3, naturalised, Gauteng, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape

References:

  • BAILEY, L.H. & BAILEY, E.Z. 1977. Cotoneaster , Crataegus , Cydonia , Duchesnea , Fragaria , Potentilla , Prunus , Pyracantha , Pyrus , Rosa & Sanguisorba (= Poterium ). Hortus Third, a concise dictionary of plants cultivated in the United States and Canada . Macmillan, New York
  • BALL, P.W. 1968. Rosaceae ( Pyracantha ). Flora europaea 2
  • BROWICZ, K. 1972. Rosaceae . Flora of Turkey and the East Aegean Islands 4
  • KNEES, S.G. 1995. Pyracantha and Pyrus . The European garden flora 4. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
  • ROEMER, M.J. 1847. Rosiflorae. Familiarum naturalium regni vegetabilis synopses monographicae 3. Landes-Industrie-Comptoir, Weimar