All Floras      Advanced Search
FOC Vol. 11 Page 164, 180, 193, 194, 207 Login | eFloras Home | Help
FOC | Family List | FOC Vol. 11 | Euphorbiaceae

10. Glochidion J. R. Forster & G. Forster, Char. Gen. Pl. 57. 1775.

算盘子属 suan pan zi shu

Authors: Bingtao Li & Michael G. Gilbert

Agyneia Linnaeus; Bradleia Banks ex Gaertner ["Bradleja"].

Trees or shrubs, monoecious, rarely dioecious; indumentum of simple hairs, often absent. Leaves alternate, distichous, or spiral; stipules thick, mostly persistent; petiole short; leaf blade simple, margin entire, venation pinnate. Flowers axillary or supra-axillary, fascicled or in short cymes or umbels, proximal axils with male flowers, distal axils usually with female flowers, usually distinctly pedicellate. Male flowers: pedicels slender or almost absent; sepals 5 or 6, imbricate; petals absent; disk absent; stamens 3-8, connate into an oblong or ellipsoid column, shorter than sepals; anthers 2-locular, extrorse, linear, longitudinally dehiscent, connectives prolonged into an erect acumen; pistillode absent. Female flowers: pedicels stout and short or subsessile; sepals as in male, but slightly thicker; ovary globose, 3-15-locular; ovules 2 per locule; styles connate into a short, thick, cylindric column, apex lobed or toothed, rarely free. Fruit a capsule, globose or depressed globose, ± prominently longitudinally grooved, sunken at apex, dehiscent into 3-15 2-valved cocci when mature, rarely unlobed; exocarp leathery or papery; endocarp crustaceous; styles usually persistent. Seeds not strophiolate, hemispheric or laterally compressed; endosperm fleshy; cotyledon flattened.

About 200 species: chiefly in tropical Asia, the Pacific islands, and Malaysia, a few in tropical America and Africa; 28 species (seven endemic, one introduced) in China.

Glochidion is noteworthy for its pollination mechanism, which involves a symbiotic relationship with moths of the genus Epicephala closely paralleling that found in Yucca (Kato et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 100: 5264-5267. 2003).

Glochidion cavaleriei H. Léveillé (Repert. Spec. Nov. Regni Veg. 12: 183. 1913) is a synonym for Illicium majus J. D. Hooker & Thomson in the Illiciaceae (see Fl. China 7).

After publication of the family treatment for the Flora of China, two species were newly recorded from China (see YAO Gang & ZHANG Dian-xiang. 2010. J. Trop. Subtrop. Bot. 18(4): 394-396, i.e., Glochidion multiloculare Voigt and G. moonii Thwaites).


1 Stamens 4-6   (2)
+ Stamens 3   (8)
       
2 (1) Branchlets and leaf blade glabrous   (3)
+ Branchlets and leaf blade densely pubescent or tomentose   (5)
       
3 (2) Leaf blade apex acuminate to caudate-acuminate, adaxially glaucous; stamens 4; sepals sparsely pubescent; style column long cylindric.   1 G. lanceolatum
+ Leaf blade apex acute, obtuse, or rounded, adaxially green to dark green; stamens 5 or 6; sepals glabrous; style column ovoid or conical   (4)
       
4 (3) Leaf blade base acute or broadly cuneate; flowers in axillary clusters; male sepals obovate or oblong-obovate; ovary densely pubescent.   2 G. lanceolarium
+ Leaf blade base shallowly cordate, truncate, or rounded; flowers in supra-axillary cymes or umbels; male sepals ovate or broadly ovate; ovary glabrous.   3 G. zeylanicum
       
5 (2) Flowers in axillary clusters   (6)
+ Flowers usually in supra-axillary cymes   (7)
       
6 (5) Leaf blade base symmetrical, both surfaces glabrous to sparsely pubescent only on veins, lateral veins prominent; ovary 10-locular.   4 G. coccineum
+ Leaf blade base asymmetrical, adaxially glabrous, abaxially pubescent, lateral veins obscure; ovary 4- or 5-locular.   5 G. oblatum
       
7 (5) Male sepals ca. 1 mm; female pedicels to 7 mm; capsules to 8.5 mm in diam., puberulent.   6 G. arborescens
+ Male sepals 3-4 mm; female pedicels to 3 mm; capsules to 12 mm in diam., strongly pubescent.   7 G. hirsutum
       
8 (1) Leaf blade hairy at least on veins   (9)
+ Leaf blade glabrous   (16)
       
9 (8) Leaf blade base asymmetrical   (10)
+ Leaf blade base symmetrical   (13)
       
10 (9) Sepals 6, ovary pubescent   (11)
+ Sepals 5, ovary glabrous   (12)
       
11 (10) Leaf blade abaxially puberulent only on veins; sepals abaxially glabrous.   8 G. rubrum
+ Leaf blade abaxially white pubescent; sepals abaxially pubescent.   9 G. triandrum
       
12 (10) Leaf blade with only midvein and lateral veins pubescent abaxially; male pedicels, sepals outside, and capsules glabrous.   10 G. medogense
+ Leaf blade sparsely pubescent on both surfaces; male pedicels, sepals outside, and capsules pubescent.   11 G. nubigenum
       
13 (9) Leaves and capsules spreading villous, leaf blade base obtuse, truncate to rounded; style column ca. 3 × as long as ovary.   12 G. eriocarpum
+ Leaves and capsules pubescent or tomentose; leaf blade base cuneate, acute, or obtuse; style column not longer than ovary   (14)
       
14 (13) Sepals adaxially pubescent; style column shorter than ovary.   13 G. heyneanum
+ Sepals adaxially glabrous; style column as long as ovary   (15)
       
15 (14) Trees; leaf blade 3-7 cm wide; male sepals elliptic, female sepals ovate; style column cylindric or subconical.   14 G. lutescens
+ Shrubs; leaf blade 1-2.5 cm wide; male and female sepals narrowly oblong or oblong-obovate; styles connate into an annulus.   15 G. puberum
       
16 (8) Leaf blade base asymmetrical   (17)
+ Leaf blade base symmetrical   (22)
       
17 (16) Outer male sepals larger than inner   (18)
+ Outer male sepals as large as inner   (19)
       
18 (17) Leaf blade oblong or obovate; male pedicels sparsely strongly hispid; anthers linear.   16 G. chademenosocarpum
+ Leaf blade lanceolate; male pedicels glabrous; anthers not linear.   17 G. kusukusense
       
19 (17) Young branches, ovary, and capsules pubescent.   18 G. philippicum
+ Young branches, ovary, and capsules glabrous   (20)
       
20 (19) Leaf blade abaxially greenish, gray-brown when dry; style column depressed globose, ca. 2 mm wide, ca. 2 × wider than ovary.   19 G. sphaerogynum
+ Leaf blade abaxially white powdery to green, not gray-brown when dry; style column obovoid or cylindric, less than ca. 1 mm wide, not wider than ovary   (21)
       
21 (20) Leaf blade abaxially green-gray when dry; lateral veins reddish; male sepals elliptic; style column obovate; capsule 10-15 mm in diam..   20 G. thomsonii
+ Leaf blade abaxially glaucous when dry; lateral veins not reddish; male sepals oblong; style column cylindric; capsule 6-8 mm in diam..   21 G. wrightii
       
22 (16) Male pedicels 13-20 mm, pubescent.   22 G. ellipticum
+ Male pedicels less than 9 mm, glabrous   (23)
       
23 (22) Branchlets angular; petiole pubescent; leaf blade abaxially gray-glaucous   (24)
+ Branchlets terete; petiole glabrous; leaf blade abaxially not gray-glaucous   (25)
       
24 (23) Midrib of leaf not raised adaxially; ovary puberulent when young; style column clavate.   23 G. daltonii
+ Midrib of leaf raised adaxially; ovary glabrous; style column cylindric.   24 G. wilsonii
       
25 (23) Branches pubescent; leaf blade obovate or oblong-obovate; outer sepals equaling inner ones.   25 G. obovatum
+ Branches glabrous; leaf blade usually ovate, elliptic, or oblong; outer sepals larger than inner ones   (26)
       
26 (25) Leaf apex caudate-acuminate; male sepals broadly ovate; ovary 5- or 6-locular; style column cylindric.   26 G. ramiflorum
+ Leaf apex acuminate to acute; male sepals obovate or oblong-obovate; ovary 3- or 4-locular; style column obconical or subclavate   (27)
       
27 (26) Leaf blade ovate, obovate, or oblong, apex acute; sepal margins minutely serrate or entire; style column obconical.   27 G. suishaense
+ Leaf blade oblong or ovate-lanceolate, apex acuminate; sepal margins entire; style column subclavate, apex unequally 3-toothed.   28 G. khasicum

  • List of lower taxa


     

    Related Objects  
  • Glochidion.pdf
  • PDF

  • Flora of China @ efloras.org
    Browse by
    Volume
    Family
    Genera
    Advanced Search


    Flora of China Home


    Checklist

     

     

     |  eFlora Home |  People Search  |  Help  |  ActKey  |  Hu Cards  |  Glossary  |