莲叶桐属 lian ye tong shu

Biasolettia C. Presl.

Trees, evergreen, monoecious. Leaves alternate, simple, petiolate, peltately attached or not, broadly ovate or subcircular, 3-7-veined. Flowers 3-5(or 6)-merous, unisexual, pedicellate, ternately involucrate at apices of branches of a lax panicle; central flower with a cupular involucel at base, lateral ones staminate; involucral bracts 4 or 5, subvalvate in bud. Staminate flowers: tepals 6-8, in 2 series, subvalvate; stamens as many as and opposite outer tepals; filaments each with 2 free basal glands or glands connate; anther cells extrorse, laterally dehiscent. Pistillate flowers: tepals 8-10, in 2 series, subvalvate; style short, surrounded by 4 or more free or connate glands; stigma dilated, irregularly toothed or lobed; staminodes absent. Fruit enclosed in an inflated fleshy cupule. Seeds globose or ovoid; testa thick, hard, ribbed; embryo thick, lobed, ruminate.

About 24 species: E and W Africa, SE Asia, Central America; one species in China.

Lower Taxon

• Hernandia nymphaeifolia (C. Presl) Kubitzki