Annual, erect, ascending or prostrate, rigid herbs, monoecious
Leaves petiolate, ovate to ovate-oblong; ocrea not ciliate, soon lacerating or falling off
Flowers unisexual, small, in axillary fascicles, or by abortion of upper leaves, appearing racemose
Male flowers pedicellate; perianth segments 5 or 6, free nearly to base, equal, spreading; stamens 4-6; filaments filiform; anthers ovate
Female flowers sessile; perianth 6-lobed, enlarged and hardened in fruit; tube ovoid, 3- or 6-angled in fruit and ± transversely ribbed between angles; lobes in 2 series, outer 3 spiny in fruit and inner obtuse or aristate
Ovary included in perianth tube, 3-angled; styles 3, short; stigmas dilated, fimbriate
Fruit a triquetrous nut enclosed within persistent perianth tube
Seed subterete
x = 10
Nomenclature:
Emex Campd.
Campderá: 56 (1819)
Wright: 481 (1912)
Graham: 3 (1958)
Tutin: 89 (1964)
Brandbyge: 541 (1993)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species 2, Mediterranean region and Australia
Southern Africa: Species 1: Emex australis Steinh., widespread
References:
BRANDBYGE, J. 1993. Polygonaceae. In K. Kubitzki, J.G. Rohwer and V. Bittrich, The families and genera of vascular plants 2. Springer-Verlag, Berlin
CAMPDERÁ, F. 1819. Monographie des Rumex. Renaud, London, Strasbourg, Montpellier
GRAHAM, R.A. 1958. Flora of tropical East Africa. Polygonaceae
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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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