Euphorbiaceae - Acalyphoideae - Acalypheae - *Mercurialis L.
Description:
Annuals or perenial herbs; dioecious
Leaves opposite, often toothed
Infloresences axillary, male slender with flowers in sparse distant clusters on distal half of rachis; female usually short with 1 or 2 subsessile flowers
Petals 0
Disc 0
Male flowers: calyx split in 3 valvate lobes; stamens 8-20, filaments free, attached to a small receptacle; ovary 0
Female flowers: ovary 2(3)-locular; ovules solitary; styles erect, free, almost to base, undivided
Fruit a capsule; 2(3)-coccous, breaking up into bivalved cocci; endocarp crustaceous
Seeds ovoid or globose, smooth or rough; testa crustaceous; albumen fleshy; cotyledons broad, flat
x = 8 (6, 7) (high polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
*Mercurialis L.
Linnaeus: 1035 (1753)
Prain: 461 (1920)
Pillans: 559 (1950)
Webster: 85 (1994)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Eurasian genus of 8 species
Southern Africa: *Mercurialis annua L., common introduction into waste places and gardens, mainly Western Cape
References:
LINNAEUS, C. 1753. Species plantarum, edn 1. Laurentius Salvius, Stockholm
PILLANS, N.S. 1950. Euphorbiaceae. In R.S. Adamson & T.M. Salter, Flora of the Cape Peninsula. Juta, Cape Town
PRAIN, D. 1920. Euphorbiaceae [in part]. Flora capensis 5, 2
WEBSTER, G.L. 1994. Synopsis of the genera and suprageneric taxa of Euphorbiaceae. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 81
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