Tepals 4, 1 sepal free, with the rounded median lobe the longer, accrescent, surrounding the fruit, becoming 3-nerved and sometimes brightly coloured, the lower 3 ± united to their middle
Stamens 4(-13)
Ovary of 1 carpel, globose and ± laterally compressed; style very short or 0, up to as long as ovary, tapered or capitate; stigma feathery or capitate
Fruit a utricle, discoidal, with a slightly toughened skin closely adhering to seed, reticulately nerved when dry
Seed similarly shaped, with brittle, black testa
x = 9 (1 report, polyploidy)
Nomenclature:
Hilleria Vell.
Vellozo: 47, t. 122 (1825)
Walter: 80 (1909)
Heimerl: 150 (1934)
Hutchinson: 438 (1959) in Petiveriaceae
Nowicke: 339 (1968)
Polhill: 4 (1971)
Hutchinson: 541 (1973)
Rohwer: 513 (1993)
Mohlana Mart.
Martius: 170, t. 290 (1832)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species 3-5, South America and tropical Africa, with 1: Hilleria latifolia (Lam.) H.Walter, widespread also in Africa, Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands
Southern Africa: One record in forest undergrowth at Umhlanga Rocks, KwaZulu-Natal; the distribution records suggest that it is indigenous in Africa
References:
HEIMERL, A. 1934. Phytolaccaceae. Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien, edn 2,16c
HUTCHINSON, J. 1959. Petiveriaceae. The families of flowering plants. Clarendon Press, Oxford
HUTCHINSON, J. 1973. Petiveriaceae. The families of flowering plants, edn 3. Clarendon Press, Oxford
MARTIUS, C.F.P. VON. 1832. Mohlana. Nova genera et species plantarum 3. Published by the author, München
NOWICKE, J.W. 1968. Palynotaxonomic study of the Phytolaccaceae. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 55, 3
POLHILL, R.M. 1971. Flora tropical East Africa. Phytolaccaceae
ROHWER, J.G. 1993. Phytolaccaceae. In K. Kubitzki, J.G. Rohwer & V. Bittrich, The families and genera of vascular plants - dicotyledons 2. Springer-Verlag, Berlin
VELLOZO, J.M. DA C. 1825. Hilleria. Florae fluminensis. Typographia nationalis, Rio de Janeiro
WALTER, H. 1909. Phytolaccaceae. Das Pflanzenreich 4, 83 (Heft 39)
Copyright of the content hosted by this website remains with the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), unless stated otherwise. Material from this site may be used in other media, provided that SANBI is acknowledged by the name South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI) or refer to the 'How to cite this resource' paragraph on the Home page. Liability disclaimer: Visitors use this site at their own risk and SANBI is not liable for any of the consequences resulting therefrom.
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.
