Leaves
alternate or occasionally opposite, linear to oblong, sessile, entire
Inflorescences
elongated, bracteate, spike-like thyrses; each bract with 1-more central bisexual flowers and 2-more lateral sterile modified flowers, each formed of an accrescent, finally spinous-margined process, fused with indurate base of partial inflorescence so that the whole falls as a unit (a burr) complete with bracteoles; bracts persistent on inflorescence axis
Tepals
5, narrow, 3-nerved, ± pilose or floccose, connate at base, acuminate or pungent
Stamens
5; filaments slender, connate below; pseudostaminodes 0; anthers narrow, 2-thecous, each theca with an awn-like tail at each end
Ovary
± compressed, villous or glabrous; ovule solitary, erect; style very short; stigma with a tuft of whitish penicillate hairs
Capsule
scarcely compressed, with a firm apex, delicate below, thin-walled, indehiscent
Seed
± horseshoe-shaped, compressed, brown, smooth and shining; perisperm/endosperm copious
TOWNSEND, C.C. 1993.
Amaranthaceae
. In K. Kubitzki, J.G. Rohwer & V. Bittrich,
The families and genera of vascular plants - dicotyledons
2. Springer-Verlag, Berlin
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Welcome to Biodiversity Advisor 2.0!
Biodiversity Advisor, developed by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) and its Data Partners, is a system that will provide integrated biodiversity information to a wide range of users who will have access to geospatial data, plant and animal species distribution data, ecosystem-level data, literature, images and metadata.
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