Sepals dry, membranous, subequal, the 2 lateral ones slightly or much larger than others
Petals 3; the lower hooded, with 2 large, wing-like appendages below apex, rarely with only 1 appendage; lateral petals free or cohering by their edges
Stamens 7; filament tube usually inflated about the middle; anthers 1-thecous, dehiscing by a longitudinal slit
Ovary 2-locular, 4-horned, sometimes hairy; style curved near apex, usually 2-lobed; stigma usually lateral, rarely discoid
Fruit a membranous capsule, 2-seeded, compressed, usually with 4 horns or tubercles, sometimes hispid
Seeds with aril produced into membranous flaps on either side
Nomenclature:
Muraltia DC.
Candolle: 335 (1824)
Harvey: 95 (1860)
Levyns: 1 (1954)
Levyns: 9 (1955)
Exell: 307 (1960)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Species 115, Africa
Southern Africa: Species Muraltia flanaganii Bolus from Tanzania southwards, 4 in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape and all others endemic in Cape Floristic Region (Western and S Eastern Cape)
References:
CANDOLLE, A.P. DE. 1824. Prodromus. Vol. 1. Treuttel & Würtz, Paris
LEVYNS, M.R. 1954. The genus Muraltia. Journal of South African Botany, Supplementary volume 2
LEVYNS, M.R. 1955. The species of Polygala in the south-western Cape Province. Journal of South African Botany 21,1
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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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