Trees or shrubs; dioecious, rarely monoecious; occasionally with watery latex
Leaves alternate, shortly petiolate, often 3-nerved from base, frequently glandular between nerves on lower surface at base; stipellate
Inflorescence of male flowers in axillary or lateral, simple or branched spikes, several to a bract and with female flowers in axillary spikes or racemes, solitary to a bract
Petals 0
Disc usually 0
Male flowers: calyx splitting into 2-5 valvate lobes; stamens 8 or rarely fewer; filaments free or nearly so; pistil 0
Female flowers: calyx 3-6-lobed, with lobes imbricate; ovary (1)2- or 3(4)-locular, with a single ovule in each locule; styles free, usually entire
Fruit a 2- or 3(4)-coccous capsule, with cocci bivalved, leaving persistent columella; endocarp crustaceous
Global: Species ± 50, cosmopolitan in tropics; 6 African
Southern Africa: Species 2, Northern Province, Mpumalanga to N KwaZulu-Natal
References:
PAX, F. & HOFFMANN, K. 1914. Euphorbiaceae-Acalypheae-Mercurialinae. Das Pflanzenreich 147,6 (Heft 63)
PRAIN, D. 1920. Euphorbiaceae [in part]. Flora capensis 5, 2
RADCLIFFE-SMITH, A. 1987. Euphorbiaceae. Flora of tropical East Africa. Euphorbiaceae Part 1
RADCLIFFE-SMITH, A. 1996. Euphorbiaceae. Flora zambesiaca 9, 4
SWARTZ, O.P. 1788. Nova genera & species plantarum seu Prodromus. Sweder, Stockholm
WEBSTER, G.L. 1994. Synopsis of the genera and suprageneric taxa of Euphorbiaceae. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 81
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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.
