32. Guihaiothamnus H. S. Lo, Bull. Bot. Res., Harbin. 18: 279. 1998.
桂海木属 gui hai mu shu
Authors: Tao Chen & Charlotte M. Taylor
Subshrubs, unarmed; roots woody and stout. Raphides presumably absent. Leaves opposite, often congested or apparently fascicled at stem apices, without domatia; stipules caducous, apparently interpetiolar, triangular. Inflorescences terminal or pseudoaxillary, congested-cymose or subcapitate, several flowered, sessile to shortly pedunculate, bracteate with bracts linear. Flowers shortly pedicellate or subsessile, presumably bisexual, with biology unknown. Calyx limb deeply 5-lobed. Corolla pink, salverform with tube slender and abruptly expanded in throat, inside pubescent; lobes 5, convolute in bud. Stamens 5, inserted in corolla throat, partially exserted; filaments short to reduced. Ovary 2-celled, ovules numerous in each cell on fleshy, peltate, axile placentas; stigma 2-lobed with lobes capitate, exserted. Fruit purplish red, baccate, fleshy, subglobose, with calyx lobes tardily deciduous; seeds numerous, small, angled, reticulate.
● One species: China.
The relationships of this genus and some of its morphological details are unknown. The presence or absence of raphides has not been explicitly noted; absence is here inferred based on H. S. Lo’s (in FRPS 71(1): ix. 1999) classification of this genus in Rondeletieae, but the one specimen seen has scattered raphidelike structures deep within some intact tissues.
