Trees, shrubs, undershrubs, or herbs, sometimes monoecious, dioecious or polygamous, usually stellate-pubescent
Leaves alternate, simple or digitately compound, penni- or palmately nerved, usually petiolate; stipules usually present
Flowers bisexual or unisexual, usually regular, arranged in axillary or terminal racemes, cymes, corymbs or panicles, rarely solitary; sometimes with an epicalyx or floral bracts
Calyx persistent, 3-5-lobed, valvate
Corolla of 0-5 petals, free or adnate to base of staminal tube, twisted
Stamens 5-many, free or united into a tube around ovary; staminodes sometimes present; anthers 2-thecous, with longitudinal slits
Ovary usually superior, with 1-5 (or more) free, or ± united carpels, with 1-many, usually axile ovules in each carpel
Fruit usually dry, sometimes fleshy, dehiscent or indehiscent
Seeds with embryo straight or curved; endosperm usually present
Classification Notes:
Malvaceae - Byttnerioideae, Dombeyoideae, Sterculioideae, fide Bayer et al. (1999)
See note on family circumscription under Malvaceae
Nomenclature:
Sterculiaceae
Harvey: 178 (1860) and l.c.: 179 under Byttneriaceae
Global: Genera 72, species 1500, cosmopolitan in tropical and subtropical climates
Southern Africa: Genera 7, species 181
References:
BAYER, C., FAY, M.F., DE BRUIJN, A.Y., SAVOLAINEN, V., MORTON, C.M., KUBITZKI, K., ALVERSON, W.S., CHASE, M.W. 1999. Support for an expanded family concept of Malvaceae within a recircumscribed order MALVALES: a combined analysis of plastid atpB and rbcL DNA sequences. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 129
FRIEDRICH-HOLZHAMMER, M., MERXMÜLLER, H. & ROESSLER, H. 1969. Sterculiaceae. Prodromus einer Flora von Südwestafrika 84
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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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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.
