Xylosma anisophylla

Description

Family Flacourtiaceae

Trees or shrubs , hermaphroditic , monoecious, dioecious, or polygamous, evergreen or deciduous; trunk , branches, and branchlets sometimes spiny ; hairs simple , rarely T-shaped or stellate . Leaves simple, usually alternate, rarely opposite or verticillate , sometimes crowded at apices of branches; stipules usually small and caducous , sometimes larger, leaflike and persistent , rarely absent; petiole generally present, sometimes with apex 2-glandular and/or with additional glands along petiole length; leaf blade usually pinnate-veined, sometimes 3-5-veined from base or palmate-veined, with or without pellucid dots or lines , sometimes with a pair of glands at junction of blade and petiole, margin entire or toothed , teeth glandular or not. Inflorescences axillary , terminal , or cauliflorous , of various forms: racemose, spicate , cymose , corymbose , or paniculate , sometimes flowers fasciculate, or solitary; pedicels often articulate ; bracts and bracteoles usually small to minute. Flowers radially symmetric , bisexual or unisexual , hypogynous, perigynous, or epigynous ; perianth cyclic , rarely spiral , in unisexual flowers remnants of opposite sex present or absent. Sepals imbricate or valvate , rarely spathaceous , mostly (2 or) 3-6, rarely more, usually free or connate at base only, sometimes partly united into a tube , caducous or persistent, rarely accrescent . Petals 3-8, rarely more, often isomerous and alternating with sepals, free, imbricate or valvate, rarely contorted, similar to sepals or not, sometimes with a fleshy adaxial basal scale , or petals absent. Disk present, entire, lobed , or comprised of free or connate disk glands, these extrastaminal , interstaminal, or intrastaminal (bisexual or staminate flowers ), or extragynoecial (pistillate flowers), or disk absent. Stamens 1 to many (ca. 100), 1- or many seriate , sometimes in epipetalous bundles, or on margin of cupular disk or rim of calyx tube ; filaments free, rarely united into a column; anthers 2-thecate, usually longitudinally dehiscent , rarely opening by terminal pores, connective sometimes shortly projected or glandular. Ovary superior or semi-inferior, 1-loculed, with 2-9 parietal placentas, rarely incompletely 2-9(or more) -celled by placentas protruding deeply into locule; ovules 2 or more on each placenta, orthotropous , anatropous , or hemi-anatropous; styles isomerous with placentas, free or partly to completely united, rarely absent, stigmas small or large, capitate to flattened and branched. Fruit capsular or baccate , rarely a drupe, pericarp mostly smooth , sometimes winged or bristly . Seeds 1 to many, with or without a fleshy sometimes brightly colored sarcotesta and/or aril, sometimes with long hairs, or broadly winged; endosperm usually copious and fleshy; embryo straight or curved ; cotyledons usually broad, often cordate.

About 87 genera and ca. 900 species: mostly in tropical and subtropical regions, some extending into the temperate zone; 12 genera (one endemic) and 39 species (nine endemic) in China; four additional species (all endemic) are poorly known (see Homalium) .Qiner Yang & Sue Zmarzty "Flacourtiaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 13 Page 112, 138. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Genus Xylosma

Shrubs or small trees , usually dioecious, rarely polygamous; trunk and branches usually spiny . Leaves alternate, stipulate , usually petiolate ; leaf blade pinnate-veined, margin serrate, rarely entire , teeth glandular . Flowers hypogynous, small, in axillary fascicles, short racemes , or panicles, rudiments of opposite sex usually absent; bracts small, persistent or caducous ; pedicels articulate at base . Sepals 4 or 5, imbricate, free or connate at base only. Petals absent. Disk extrastaminal , or in female flowers extragynoecial, comprised of several small closely set or connate glands (usually in staminate flowers ) or annular (often in pistillate flowers). Staminate flowers: stamens ca. 10 to many, exserted; filaments free, filiform ; anthers small, basifixed , sometimes apiculate by extension of connective . Pistillate flowers: ovary superior, 1-loculed; placentas 2(-6), each with 2 to many ovules; styles 2 or 3(or 4), often very short, joined in lower part only or completely joined to form a single style column, or styles absent; stigmas semilunate to U-shaped. Berry small, ca. 1 cm or less, pericarp thinly leathery, blackish when dried; disk and calyx often persistent at base; styles and/or stigmas persistent at apex. Seeds few.

About 100 species: tropical and subtropical regions, rarely extending to warm-temperate regions; three species in China.

The gender of the name Xylosma is feminine; see Art. 62.2(b ) of the Vienna Code.

In Chinese species: stamens 10-20, filaments glabrous ; ovary glabrous; berry red or black when fresh.

Differentiation between fruiting material of Xylosma controversa and X . longifolia can be difficult when the calyx is absent (caducous) and the critical sepal indumentum character therefore unavailable . Ranges of other character states (e.g. , leaf size, shape , lateral vein number) overlap, and lateral veins are difficult to count in dried material, especially toward the leaf apex. Characters used previously, for example dried leaf color, leaf shininess, leaf base shape, and style length, are not reliable. For some fruiting material examined for the Flora (at K ), identification of X. controversa has been based solely on the absence of the calyx. Further study is required to test the strength of this character and, ideally, provide additional ones."Xylosma". in Flora of China Vol. 13 Page 112, 113, 114, 119, 121. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.

Taxonomy

[ Back to top ]

Domain: Eukaryota () - Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- Kingdom: Plantae () - Haeckel, 1866 - Plants
  - Subkingdom: Viridaeplantae () - Cavalier-Smith, 1981
    - Phylum: Tracheophyta () - Sinnott, 1935 Ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998 - Vascular Plants
      - Subphylum: Euphyllophytina ()
        Infraphylum: Radiatopses () - Kenrick & Crane, 1997
        Class: Magnoliopsida () - Brongniart, 1843 - Dicotyledons
        Subclass: Dilleniidae () - Takhtajan, 1967
        Superorder: Violanae () - R. Dahlgren Ex Reveal, 1992
        Order: Violales () - Perleb, 1826
        Family: Flacourtiaceae () - A.p. De Candolle, 1824 - Flacourtia Family
        Genus: Xylosma () - G. Forster, Fl. Ins. Austr. 72. 1786. - Xylosma
        Specific epithet: anisophylla - Standl.
        Botanical name: - Xylosma anisophylla Standl.