Calyx: sepals 5, free, somewhat leathery, villous on outer surface, tomentose within, 4 inner ones with membranous margins
Petals 5, free, somewhat fleshy, imbricate
Disc thick, 10-furrowed or 5-lobed
Stamens 10, inserted at base of disc; filaments free; anthers 2-thecous, opening by longitudinal slits
Ovary superior but partly immersed in disc, 5-locular, globose, with an apical pendulous ovule in each locule, villous; style short, terete or 5-grooved; stigmas 1-5, simple
Fruit a fleshy drupe, 1-seeded by abortion
Seeds with thick, oily cotyledons; endosperm 0
x = 9 (8) (polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
Balanites Delile
Delile: 221 (1813) name conserved
Launert: 221 (1963)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species ± 20, mostly in Africa, few in Malaysia
Southern Africa: Species 4, Namibia, Northern Province, Mpumalanga, Swaziland and KwaZulu-Natal
References:
DELILE, A.R. 1813. Description de l'Égypte. Histoire naturelle. Vol. 2. Imprimerie impériale, Paris
LAUNERT, E. 1963. Balanitaceae. Flora zambesiaca 2
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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.
The integrated information comes from our much-loved Botanical Database of Southern Africa (BODATSA) also known as Plants of Southern Africa (POSA), Zoological Database of Southern Africa (ZODATSA), Biodiversity Geographic Information System (BGIS), SANBI's institutional repository (Opus) and others.
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