Annual, biennial, or perennial herbs, sometimes aquatic
Leaves opposite or alternate, simple, entire or variously lobed; stipules usually present or 0
Flowers bisexual, usually regular, mostly solitary and axillary, subtending leaves sometimes greatly reduced or 0
Sepals (2-)4 or 5(-7); lobes valvate; free floral tube (hypanthium, perianth tube) present or 0
Petals as many as sepals, or 0, free, caducous
Stamens as many or twice as many as sepals; anthers oblong or linear, introrse, versatile, opening by longitudinal slits
Ovary inferior, locules as many as sepals, with 1-many ovules in each locule; placentation axile; style single, terete, often thick; stigma entire or deeply lobed
Fruit a capsule or nut, often elongated
Seeds terete or prismatic-angled, smooth or papillose, with a terminal tuft of hairs in Epilobium
Nomenclature:
Onagraceae
Harvey: 503 (1862)
Schreiber: 1 (1967)
Raven: 329 (1978)
Goldblatt & Raven: 149 (1997)
Distribution & Notes:
Global: Genera 17, species 674, cosmopolitan in tropical and temperate areas, but mostly America
Southern Africa: Genera 4 (2 introduced and naturalised), species 27 (mostly introduced and naturalised)
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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.
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.
