Shrubs, sometimes small to medium-sized trees or woody climbers, with bark becoming waxy with age, layers peeling in horizontal bands, rarely undershrubs
Leaves petiolate, variable; simple or trisect to pinnately and/or palmately compound
Flowers in dense, compound, bracteate umbels
Calyx with 5 triangular teeth
Petals ± elliptic, inflexed, keeled on inner face
Disc conical
Stamens often longer than petals, inflexed
Styles very short
Fruit elliptic or somewhat pear-shaped, winged; mericarps of 2 forms, the one 2-winged, the other 3-winged, mostly flattened, with prominent ribs; oil ducts 6 to several, with 2 on face and up to 16 around each seed; carpophore bipartite
Seeds subterete
Nomenclature:
Heteromorpha Cham. & Schltdl.
Chamisso & Schlechtendal: 385, t. 5 (1826), name conserved
Sonder: 542 (1862)
Burtt: 213 (1991)
Winter & Van Wyk: 225 (1996)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species 7, sub-Saharan Africa and Yemen
Southern Africa: Species 5, widespread
References:
BURTT, B.L. 1991. Umbelliferae of southern Africa: an introduction and annotated checklist. Edinburgh Journal of Botany 48
CHAMISSO, A. DE. & SCHLECHTENDAL, D. DE. 1826. Annesorhiza, Lichtensteinia. Linnaea 1
SONDER, W. 1862. Umbelliferae. Flora capensis 2
WINTER, P.J.D. & VAN WYK, B-E. 1996. A revision of the genus Heteromorpha (Apiaceae). Kew Bulletin 51
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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.
The system is still under development, so you may find a few bugs/issues. If you do, please report it via the error reporting button available in various sections of the website or provide us with any useful feedback you may have via the ‘Give us feedback’ option available in the sidebar menu. You can create a free account for yourself by clicking on the user profile icon which will take you through to the login page. Here you can choose the ‘Create an account’ option or simply fill in your details if you have an account already. Having an account on Biodiversity Advisor will provide users with free access to biodiversity resources.
In future, Team SANBI will be able to log in using their day-to-day login details, BGIS users will be able to use their existing accounts and details, and general users will be able to log in using their LinkedIn profile, but for now you will need to create an account.
