Leaves alternate or nearly opposite, petiolate, usually slightly crenate and with scattered setae on margin
Inflorescence of minute male flowers in fascicles arranged in terminal racemes and of a few female flowers towards base of rachis, subtended by a leafy bract
Petals 0
Disc 0
Male flower: calyx membranous, splitting into 3 valvate, setaceous lobes; stamens 3-7; filaments free or sometimes connate at base; pistil 0
Female flowers: calyx reduced to bract or obsolete; ovary 2-locular, with a solitary ovule in each locule, usually with few setae; styles 2, free, entire
Fruit a 2(1)-locular capsule, setose-muricate, globose
Seeds subglobose, with sculptured testa; albumen fleshy; cotyledons broad, flat
Nomenclature:
Leidesia Müll.Arg.
MüllerArgau: 792 (1866)
Prain: 399 (1913)
Prain: 462 (1920)
Pax & Hoffmann: 284 (1914)
Webster: 85 (1994)
Radcliffe-Smith: 159 (1996)
Distribution & Notes:
Southern Africa: Species 1: Leidesia procumbens (L.) Prain, fairly widespread
References:
MÜLLER ARGAU, J. 1866. Euphorbiaceae [in part]. In A. de Candolle, Prodromus 15. Treuttel & Würtz, Paris
PAX, F. & HOFFMANN, K. 1914. Euphorbiaceae-Acalypheae-Mercurialinae. Das Pflanzenreich 147,6 (Heft 63)
PRAIN, D. 1913. The Mercurialieae and Adenoclineae of South Africa. Annals of Botany 27
PRAIN, D. 1920. Euphorbiaceae [in part]. Flora capensis 5, 2
RADCLIFFE-SMITH, A. 1996. Euphorbiaceae. Flora zambesiaca 9, 4
WEBSTER, G.L. 1994. Synopsis of the genera and suprageneric taxa of Euphorbiaceae. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 81
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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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