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Aphananthe aspera var. pubescens

Interesting Facts

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Description

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Family Cannabaceae

Herbs, annual or perennial , erect or twining , dioecious or sometimes monoecious, often with cystoliths (a hard calcium carbonate structure at base of a hair) . Stems furrowed or winged . Stipules free . Leaves alternate or opposite, palmately lobed or compound , sometimes simple . Male inflorescences a bracteate cymose panicle. Male flowers: pedicellate ; sepals 5, free; petals absent; stamens 5, opposite sepals; filaments short; anthers 2-loculed, dehiscent by longitudinal slits. Female inflorescences a bracteate spicate cyme much reduced in Cannabis, pendent or erect. Female flowers: sessile; calyx appressed to ovary, membranous; petals absent; ovary 1-loculed; ovule solitary, pendulous from locule apex; style 2-parted, branches filiform . Fruit an achene, covered by persistent calyx; endosperm fleshy ; embryo curved or spirally involute .

Two genera and four species: N Africa, Asia, Europe, North America; two genera and four species (one endemic) in China.

Because all the Chinese species in this family are cultivated and are often found naturalized in disturbed habitats , it is difficult to know the true wild distributions.

Cannabaceae has sometimes been included in Moraceae or Urticaceae but is now usually recognized as a distinct family. The subfamily Celtidoideae of Ulmaceae could possibly be included within Cannabaceae (see the discussion after the Ulmaceae family description ) .[1]

Genus Aphananthe

Trees or shrubs , deciduous or semi-evergreen , dioecious or monoecious. Branchlets never spinose , never corky or winged . Stipules 2, free , caducous , leaving a short transverse scar on each side of the leaf base . Leaves alternate, distichous or in several ranks ; papery to leathery, margin serrate or entire. Flowers appearing at same time as leaves, unisexual . Male inflorescences cymes. Female inflorescences 1-flowered. Male flowers: perianth 4- or 5-parted, tepals imbricate. Ovary absent or inconspicuous and hair-shaped. Stamens equal in number to tepals; filaments erect or apically incurved ; anthers oblong . Female flowers: perianth 4- or 5-parted, tepals narrow and ± imbricate. Drupes ovoid to ± globose ; exocarp ± fleshy ; endocarp bony. Seed with thin endosperm or not; embryo involute ; cotyledons narrow.

About five species: tropical and subtropical areas of E Asia, Madagascar, Mexico, and Pacific Islands; two species in China.[2]

Taxonomy

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Notes

Publishing author : C.J.Chen Publication : Acta Phytotax. Sin. 17(1): 49 (1979) .

Similar Species

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Members of the genus Aphananthe

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 1 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:

A. aspera (Muku Tree)

More Info

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Further Reading

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Notes

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Contributors

Identifiers

Footnotes

  1. Zhengyi Wu, Zhe-Kun Zhou & Bruce Bartholomew "Cannabaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 74. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
  2. "Aphananthe". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 11. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
Last Revised: 2012-07-27