Small trees or shrubs; young growth densely greyish- or brownish-tomentose
Leaves opposite, leathery, simple, coarsely toothed, prominently veined on lower surface, shiny dark green above; stipules 0
Flowers bisexual, regular, arranged in panicles
Calyx: lobes 4, triangular-ovate, persistent; tube ± 4-angled, twice as long as lobes
Petals 4, free, valvate
Stamens 4, alternating with petals and ± as long; anthers 2-thecous, dehiscing laterally
Disc tumid, 4-angled, pubescent
Ovary inferior, 4-locular; 1 anatropous, pendulous, unitegmic ovule in each locule; placentation usually axile; style 1, shorter than stamens; stigma 4-lobed
Fruit a small, ± globose drupe crowned by calyx lobes, reticulately veined
Seeds 1 per locule; endosperm copious; embryo small
x = 13 (1 report)
Nomenclature:
Curtisia Aiton
Aiton: 162 (1789)
Cannon: 635 (1978)
Distribution & Notes:
Southern Africa: Monotypic: Curtisia dentata (Burm.f.) C.A.Sm., confined to southern parts of Africa, Northern Province, Mpumalanga, Swaziland, KwaZulu-Natal, Western and Eastern Cape
References:
AITON, 1789. Hortus kewensis, edn 1. Longman, London
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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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