Annual or perennial herbs with a basal leaf rosette, rarely with tuberous taproots, with unicellular trichomes; stems low and spreading to erect, simple to branched from base
Leaves linear to oblanceolate, alternate, usually coarsely but sparsely ciliate, otherwise glabrous; stipules 0
Flowers bisexual, solitary in axils of basal leaves or in monochasia resembling racemes with a single but ± lateral, herbaceous bract narrowing towards base at each flower
Sepals 2, often unequal, persistent, herbaceous
Petals 3-7, equalling sepals, usually deep crimson-purple to (rarely) white
Stamens (3-)5-15, shorter than petals
Ovary superior, usually 2- or 3-valved from top; styles 3 or 4, usually free
Fruit mostly a 3-valved, membranous capsule, with valves often very involute and spreading
Global: Calandrinia in strict sense: 12-15 species, North and South America
Southern Africa: Species 1, introduced: *Calandrinia ciliata (Ruiz & Pav.) DC., Western Cape
References:
BENTHAM, G. 1862. Portulaceae. In G. Bentham & J.D. Hooker, Genera plantarum 1. Lovell Reeve & Co., London
CAROLIN, R.C. 1987. A review of the family Portulacaceae. Australian Journal of Botany 35
CAROLIN, R.C. 1993. Portulacaceae. In K. Kubitzki, J.G. Rohwer & V. Bittrich, The families and genera of vascular plants - dicotyledons 2. Springer-Verlag, Berlin
ELIASSON, U.H. 1996. Portulacaceae. Flora of Ecuador 55
FENZL, E. 1839a. Ordo Portulacaceae. In S.L. Endlicher, Genera plantarum secundum ordines naturales disposita 2. Beck, Vienna
FENZL, E. 1839b. Supplement. Verbesserungen und Zusätze zur ersten Abtheilung der Monographie. Annalen des Wiener Museums der Naturgeschichte 2
KUNTH, C.S. 1823. Portulaceae. In A. de Humboldt, A. Bonpland & C.S. Kunth, Nova genera et species plantarum 6. Libraria Graeco-Latino-Germanica, Paris
MCNEILL, J. 1974. Synopsis of a revised classification of the Portulacaceae. Taxon 23
NYANANYO, B.L. 1990. Tribal and generic relationship in the Portulacaceae (CENTROSPERMAE). Feddes Repertorium 101
PAX, F. 1889. Portulacaceae. Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien 3,1b
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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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