Trees or shrubs, rarely undershrubs or dwarf perennials from a woody rootstock
Leaves opposite or rarely alternate, simple, entire, gland-dotted; stipules 0 or very small
Flowers bisexual, regular, in cymes, heads, umbels, or corymbs, rarely solitary; bracts and bracteoles often present
Calyx 3-5-lobed or sometimes entire; tube (hypanthium) ± adnate to ovary, and sometimes extending beyond it
Petals 4 or 5 (6 or more), sometimes connate and all deciduous together, imbricate
Disc lining calyx tube or flat
Stamens many, in 1-many series, inflexed in bud, free or connate at base; filaments often thread-like; anthers small, 2-thecous, usually opening by lengthwise slits
Ovary inferior, sometimes half-superior, 2-many-locular, usually with many axile, anatropous to campylotropous ovules in each locule, rarely 1 or few; style simple; stigma capitate, entire, or sometimes 3- or 4-parted
Fruit a capsule or berry, wholly or partly enclosed in persistent calyx tube
Seeds 1-many; testa often woody and glandular
Nomenclature:
Myrtaceae
Sonder: 520 (1862)
Friedrich-Holzhammer: 1 (1966)
Proctor: 512 (1972)
George: 1 (1988)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Genera 100-120, species 3 900, mainly tropical and subtropical Australia and South America
Southern Africa: Genera 9 (6 naturalised), species ± 34 (± 13 naturalised)
References:
FRIEDRICH-HOLZHAMMER, M. 1966. Myrtaceae. Prodromus einer Flora von Südwestafrika 97
GEORGE, A.S. 1988. Myrtaceae. Flora of Australia 19
PROCTOR, G.R. 1972. Myrtaceae. In C.D. Adams, Flowering plants of Jamaica. University of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica
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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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