Leaves alternate, simple, entire, very minutely translucent-punctate, petiolate; petiole longitudinally grooved or narrowly canaliculate along upper surface; stipules early caducous, leaving a conspicuous, ± semicircular scar
Flowers in terminal racemes with male ones in spikes of few-flowered fascicles and with pedicels articulated near base; bracts broad, soon caducous, overlapping when young in cone-like clusters at tips of branchlets
Male flowers: calyx membranous; sepals valvate in bud and splitting into 2 segments on opening; petals 4 or 5, free, imbricate; disc of 4 or 5(6) fleshy glands alternating with petals; stamens 15-30, with filaments erect in bud and arising from a central, cone-like receptacle; anthers subcordate with a somewhat fleshy, glabrous connective; anthers inclined and dehiscing longitudinally; ovary absent
Female flowers: sepals (4)5, free, imbricate; disc saucer-shaped; ovary 3-5-locular; ovules solitary in each locule; styles 3-5, bifid
Fruit a large capsule, 3-5-lobed, of 3-5 bivalved cocci; pericarp thin, crustaceous; endocarp thick, woody; columella large, persistent
Seeds ecarunculate, ovoid-subglobose
Nomenclature:
Cavacoa J.Léonard
Léonard: 320 (1955)
Radcliffe-Smith: 174 (1987)
Webster: 115 (1994)
Radcliffe-Smith: 304 (1996)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species 3, Africa
Southern Africa: Species 1: Cavacoa aurea (Cavaco) J.Léonard; Kenya, Mozambique to KwaZulu-Natal
References:
LÉONARD, J. 1955. A propos des genres africains Grossera Pax et Cavacoa J. Léonard. Bulletin du Jardin Botanique de l'État Bruxelles 25
RADCLIFFE-SMITH, A. 1987. Euphorbiaceae. Flora of tropical East Africa. Euphorbiaceae Part 1
RADCLIFFE-SMITH, A. 1996. Euphorbiaceae. Flora zambesiaca 9, 4
WEBSTER, G.L. 1994. Synopsis of the genera and suprageneric taxa of Euphorbiaceae. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 81
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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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