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11. Sauropus Blume, Bijdr. 595. 1826.
守宫木属 shou gong mu shu
Authors: Bingtao Li & Michael G. Gilbert
Aalius Rumphius ex Kuntze; Breyniopsis Beille; Ceratogynum Wight; Diplomorpha Griffith (1854), not Meisner (1841); Synostemon F. Mueller.
Erect shrubs, rarely herbs or climbers, monoecious or dioecious; indumentum of simple or gland-tipped hairs, often absent. Leaves alternate; stipules small, paired, inserted at bilateral base of petiole; leaf blade simple, entire, pinnately veined or rarely obscurely 3-veined from base, petiolate. Flowers smaller, apetalous. Male flowers axillary or cauliflorous, clustered or solitary, rarely in racemelike thyrses or short cymes; pedicels usually bracteolate at base; calyx discoid, cup-shaped, or turbinate, entire or 6-lobed, lobes obscurely biseriate, imbricate, erect, or spreading, margins slightly thick, with a whorl of scalelike adaxial lobes at bases of calyx lobes, rarely absent; petals absent; stamens 3, opposite outer sepals; filaments usually connate into a short cylinder; anthers free, bilocular, thecae 2, extrorse, longitudinally dehiscent; pistillode absent. Female flowers axillary, solitary or paired or with males, rarely inserted at base of male inflorescence; calyx usually 6-parted; sepals biseriate, imbricate, sometimes thickened at fruiting; disk absent; ovary ovoid or depressed globose, truncate or retuse at apex, 3-locular; ovules 2 per locule; styles 3, free or connate at base, much divergent, 2-branched at apex, arms recurved. Fruit a capsule, depressed or ovoid, breaking into 3 2-valved cocci when mature. Seeds not carunculate; endosperm fleshy; cotyledon flattened and broad.
About 56 species: Mascarenes, India, and Sri Lanka to Indo-Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, and Australia; 15 species (four endemic, one introduced) in China.
The dividing line between Sauropus and the following genus, Breynia, is for the most part rather clear-cut but there are a few species that seem to mix characters of the two genera.
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| 1 |
Creeping or obliquely ascending herbs; sepals with adaxial gland-pits, male sepal margins distally irregularly crenate; stipules awned. |
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1 S. bacciformis |
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Erect shrubs; sepals without gland-pits, male sepal margins entire or shallowly undulate; stipules without awns |
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(2) |
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| 2 (1) |
Leaf blade 3-veined |
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(3) |
| + |
Leaf blade pinnately veined |
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(4) |
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| 3 (2) |
Male inflorescence a raceme; calyx 6-fid to middle, lobes ovate-triangular; female sepals obovate. |
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2 S. trinervius |
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Male inflorescence an axillary cluster; calyx entire, margins undulate; female sepals broadly ovate. |
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3 S. repandus |
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| 4 (2) |
Inflorescence with distinct main axis, cauliflorous, arising from base or lower part of stem or main branches at ground level; anther connectives forming triangular head with anthers at angles |
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(5) |
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Inflorescence without distinct axis, in upper axils of branches; anther connectives not enlarged |
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(6) |
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| 5 (4) |
Branches, petioles, and base of leaf blade abaxially pubescent when young; leaves pendent, usually crowded toward stem apex; leaf blade usually spatulate, apex rounded; sepals red or purple. |
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4 S. spatulifolius |
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Branches, leaf blade abaxially, and petioles glabrous; leaves not pendent, never clustered at stem apex; leaf blade oblong-elliptic, ovate-lanceolate, or oblanceolate, apex acuminate or shortly so; sepals yellow-green with red streaks. |
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5 S. bonii |
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| 6 (4) |
Leaf blade leathery, reticulate veins prominent. |
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6 S. reticulatus |
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Leaf blade membranous to papery, reticulate veins ± obscure |
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(7) |
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| 7 (6) |
Female pedicels 2-6 cm, to 13 cm in fruit. |
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7 S. macranthus |
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Female pedicels 0.1-1.5 cm |
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(8) |
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| 8 (7) |
Lateral veins 10-12 pairs, base of midrib on both surfaces and of leaf blade margin equally densely stiffly papillate. |
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8 S. yanhuianus |
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Lateral veins 4-8 pairs, midrib and leaf blade margin more sparsely papillate |
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(9) |
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| 9 (8) |
Leaf blade papery or thickly papery |
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(10) |
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Leaf blade membranous or thinly papery |
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(12) |
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| 10 (9) |
Leaf apex rounded, mucronulate. |
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11 S. similis |
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Leaf apex acuminate or caudate-acuminate |
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(11) |
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| 11 (10) |
Leaf apex acuminate, lateral veins slightly raised on both surfaces; male sepals broadly or obliquely ovate; female sepals ovate. |
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9 S. pierrei |
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Leaf apex caudate-acuminate, lateral veins adaxially flattened, elevated abaxially; male sepals oblong-lanceolate; female sepals spatulate. |
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10 S. tsiangii |
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| 12 (9) |
Branchlets 4-sided; leaf blade 0.2-2 × 0.2-1.2 cm, apex obtuse, rounded, truncate, or retuse, lateral veins obliquely ascendant; male calyx deeply 6-partite |
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(13) |
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Branchlets obscurely angular when young, terete with age; leaf blade 2-13 × 1-3.5 cm, apex usually acuminate, rarely acute, lateral veins curved-ascendant; male calyx shallowly 6-fid |
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(14) |
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| 13 (12) |
Branches glabrous; leaf blade apex rounded, not mucronulate, base rounded or broadly cuneate, lateral veins slender. |
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12 S. quadrangularis |
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Branches pubescent; leaf blade apex rounded, truncate, or retuse, mucronulate, base shallowly cordate, truncate, or rounded, lateral veins more robust, forked at apex, reticulate nerves prominent. |
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13 S. delavayi |
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| 14 (12) |
Branchlets and veins of young leaves puberulent; female sepals ovate or elliptic; leaf blade glaucous; capsules obovoid to ovoid. |
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14 S. garrettii |
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Branchlets and veins of leaves glabrous; female sepals obovate; leaf blade yellowish green; capsules depressed globose or globose. |
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15 S. androgynus |
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List of lower taxa
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