Trees or shrubs, erect or scandent, often spiny, rarely dioecious
Leaves alternate, sometimes opposite, simple, entire or serrate, pinnately veined, sometimes palmately veined (Ziziphus), often glossy; stipules usually present
Flowers usually bisexual, regular, small, in cymes, umbels, spikes or heads
Calyx (4)5-lobed, tubular, valvate
Petals (0 or 4)5, free, arising in throat of calyx tube or on outer margin of disc, usually small, sometimes clawed, often embracing the stamens
Disc usually prominent, lining calyx tube
Stamens 4 or 5, arising with petals and opposite them, not alternating with the petals as in the related Celastraceae; filaments usually linear, rarely dilated; anthers (1)2-thecous, opening by longitudinal slits
Ovary superior or partly embedded in a prominent disc or ± inferior, 2 or 3(4)-locular, with 1(2) basal ovules in each locule; styles 2 or 3(4), free or ± connate
Fruit a drupe or capsule, often 3-coccous, free, partly or wholly enclosed in persistent calyx tube
Seed solitary in each locule
Nomenclature:
Rhamnaceae
Jussieu: 376 (1789)
Candolle: 19 (1825)
Sonder: 475 (1860)
Drummond: 419 (1966)
Suessenguth: 1 (1969)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Genera ± 58, species 900, cosmopolitan in tropical and subtropical countries
Southern Africa: Genera 9, species 203
References:
CANDOLLE, A.P. DE. 1825. Rhamneae. Prodromus 2. Treuttel & Würtz, Paris
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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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