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FOC | Family List | FOC Vol. 11 | Euphorbiaceae

13. Antidesma Burman ex Linnaeus, Sp. Pl. 2: 1027. 1753.

五月茶属 wu yue cha shu

Authors: Bingtao Li & Petra Hoffmann

Rhytis Loureiro; Stilago Linnaeus.

Trees or erect shrubs, dioecious; indumentum of simple hairs. Leaves alternate, eglandular; stipules small; petiole usually short; leaf blade simple, margin entire, venation pinnate. Inflorescences axillary, sometimes apparently terminal, or cauline, spikes or racemes, sometimes much branched. Male flowers: calyx 3-5(-8)-lobed, cup-shaped, lobes imbricate; petals absent; disk extrastaminal, annular or cushion-shaped (enclosing bases of stamens and pistillode), or consisting of free lobes; stamens (1-)3-5(-7), inserted inside/within disk or sinus of disk lobes, incurved in bud, afterward straight; filaments longer than sepals; anthers 2-locular, connectives U-shaped; thecae separate from each other, resembling swollen ends of U, raised at anthesis, dehiscing longitudinally; pistillode usually present. Female flowers: sepals as in male; disk annular surrounding ovary, entire; ovary longer than sepals, usually 1-locular; ovules 2 per locule, pendent; styles 2-4, short, terminal to lateral, apex usually bifid. Fruit a drupe, ovoid, ellipsoid, or lens-shaped, with many areoles when dry, crowned with persistent styles, usually 1-seeded. Seeds small, endosperm fleshy, cotyledon flattened and broad. x = 13.

About 100 species: mainly the tropics and subtropics of Asia but also in Africa (8 species), the Pacific islands (5-8 species), and Australia (5-7 species); 11 species (two endemic) in China.

Material of species no. 11, Antidesma hontaushanense, described from Taiwan (Lan Yu), has not been seen and the available description is too poor to include this taxon within the key to species.


1 Leaf apex rounded, retuse, or obtuse   (2)
+ Leaf apex acute, acuminate, or caudate   (4)
       
2 (1) Sepals free, pubescent outside; petiole 0.7-1 mm wide; fruiting pedicel 0-1 mm; male disk consisting of free pubescent lobes; leaf base cordate to rounded, rarely obtuse; ovary pubescent.   1 A. ghaesembilla
+ Sepals fused for at least 2/3 of their length, glabrous or pubescent outside; petiole 1-2 mm wide; fruiting pedicel 1.5-3(-9) mm; male disk various but never consisting of free pubescent lobes; leaf base acute to rounded; ovary glabrous or pubescent   (3)
       
3 (2) Leaves papery, dull, (2-)5-10(-21) cm; domatia present; disk pubescent, at least in male flowers; stamens (1 or)2(or 3); rudimentary ovary absent or small; fruit 4-6 × 3-4 mm; female inflorescence and infructescence 2-5(-9) cm.   2 A. acidum
+ Leaves leathery or thickly papery, shiny, (5-)10-18(-32) cm; domatia absent; disk glabrous; stamens 3 or 4(or 5); rudimentary ovary ca. 1 mm; fruit 5-11 × 4-7 mm; female inflorescence and infructescence (4-)10-18 cm.   3 A. bunius
       
4 (1) Stipules 2-5(-7) mm wide, persistent; bracts subtending inflorescences and inflorescence branches conspicuous, resembling stipules; most of plant densely yellowish tomentose.   4 A. fordii
+ Stipules 0.2-2(-3) mm wide or caducous; bracts subtending inflorescences and inflorescence branches inconspicuous, not resembling stipules; indumentum various   (5)
       
5 (4) Petiole 15-35 × 2-3 mm; sepals free, males 1-1.2 mm, females 1.5-1.8 mm; infructescence robust and usually unbranched, up to 17 cm.   5 A. nienkui
+ Petiole 0-15(-20) × 0.5-1.5 mm; sepals free or partially fused, either less than 1 mm (males) or ca. 1.5 mm (females), or fused for at least 2/3 of their length; infructescence unbranched or branched, mostly much shorter than 17 cm   (6)
       
6 (5) Fruit with lateral styles inserted at ca. 1/4 of fruit length; stipules needlelike, ca. 0.2 mm wide, persistent; leaves usually bullate; disk and ovary hairy.   6 A. hainanense
+ Fruit and ovary with terminal styles (rarely subterminal in A. japonicum); stipules triangular-lanceolate, at least 0.5 mm wide or caducous; leaves not bullate; disk and ovary various   (7)
       
7 (6) Sepals fused for more than 1/2 of their length   (8)
+ Sepals free to fused for up to 1/2 of their length   (10)
       
8 (7) Fruit 5-11 × 4-7 mm, laterally compressed; male calyx 1-1.5 mm, flowers sessile; leaf blade (5-)10-23(-32) cm, without domatia, completely glabrous or abaxially pubescent; inflorescence axes robust, usually unbranched.   3 A. bunius
+ Fruit 3-6 × 2-4 mm, laterally compressed or terete; male calyx 0.3-0.5 mm, flowers sessile to pedicellate; leaf blade (2-)5-10(-21) cm, usually with domatia, pilose at least along major veins; inflorescence axes moderately thick to slender, usually branched   (9)
       
9 (8) Leaf blade obovate to elliptic-oblong, drying yellowish green, whitish pubescent to glabrous, higher venation not conspicuously tessellated; calyx glabrous outside; male pedicel 1-1.5 mm; male disk cushion-shaped, enclosing filaments, pubescent; stamens (1 or)2(or 3); rudimentary ovary absent or minute; stigmas 3 or 4.   2 A. acidum
+ Leaf blade oblong to lanceolate, drying reddish brown, grayish, or olive green, yellowish pilose at least along veins abaxially, higher venation finely tessellated; calyx ± pubescent outside; male pedicel 0-1 mm; disk annular, sometimes divided into free alternistaminal lobes, glabrous; stamens 3 or 4; rudimentary ovary clavate to terete; stigmas 4-8.   7 A. sootepense
       
10 (7) Ovary and fruit pubescent, laterally compressed; disk, at least in male flowers, pubescent; male disk consisting of free alternistaminal glands; stamens (4 or)5(-7); indumentum especially of young plant parts and inflorescences reddish to yellowish.   1 A. ghaesembilla
+ Ovary and fruit glabrous; disk glabrous; male disk cushion-shaped, fully or partially enclosing bases of filaments and pistillode; stamens 3-5; indumentum lacking or variously colored   (11)
       
11 (10) Leaf blade ovate, apically long attenuate-acute; petiole (5-)8-15(-20) mm, not wider than 1 mm; female inflorescence and infructescence 2-5(-8) cm, axes reddish pubescent; Hainan.   8 A. maclurei
+ Leaf blade oblong or elliptic, apically acuminate; petiole 2-10(-20) mm, 0.5-2 mm wide; male inflorescence (1-)3-13 cm, female inflorescence 3-10 cm, infructescence 6-20 cm, axes whitish or yellowish pubescent; mainland China   (12)
       
12 (12) Higher leaf venation finely tessellated, leaf blade often with domatia, yellowish pubescent at least along veins abaxially; calyx lobed for 1/4-1/2 of its length, margin never glandular-fimbriate, in female flowers pitcher-shaped; male disk annular, sometimes divided into free lobes alternating with stamens; fruit terete. ..... 7. A. sootepense   (12)
+ Higher leaf venation not conspicuously tessellated, leaf blade without domatia, usually glabrous except for whitish pubescence along major veins, or completely glabrous; calyx lobed for at least 1/2 of its length to sepals free, margin often glandular-fimbriate, cup-shaped; male disk cushion-shaped, fully or partially enclosing bases of filaments and pistillode or annular and 3-5-lobed, lobes extending inward between filaments to pistillode; fruit laterally compressed or terete   (13)
       
13 (12) Fruit distinctly laterally compressed; inflorescence, pedicels, and flowers slender, usually very regular; petiole 0.5-1 mm wide; sepals often free; leaves papery to subleathery, often conspicuously flat and shiny, to 13 × 4.5 cm, elliptic or oblong-elliptic to oblong-lanceolate.   9 A. japonicum
+ Fruit terete; inflorescence, pedicels, and flowers of moderate to robust build; petiole 0.7-2 mm wide; sepals nearly free to halfway fused; leaves membranous to leathery, not conspicuously shiny or flat, to 25 × 10 cm, of variable shape.   10 A. montanum

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