Celastraceae
MOHAMMAD AMIN SIDDIQI
Herbarium, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. (Now at the University of Tripoli, Libya.)
Trees, shrubs or climbers; spiny or not. Leaves simple, opposite or alternate, stipulate, often coriaceous. Flowers small. actinomorphic, bisexual or polygamous, usually in cymes. Calyx small, 4-5, imbricate, inserted on the disc. Petals 4-5, rarely absent, small, green, inserted below the disc or continous with the margin, imbricate. Stamens 3-5, inserted on the disc, alternating with the petals. Gynoecium 2-5-carpellary, 2-5-celled, surrounded or partly sunk in the disc; ovules usually 2 in each cell; style absent or short. Fruit variable, a loculicidal capsule, a samara, a dupe or a berry. Seeds often arillate, sometimes winged, usually endospermic.
A largely tropical or a sub-tropical family of some 90 genera and about 1,000 species. Represented in Pakistan by 4 genera and 10 species.
Acknowledgements: We are grateful to the United States Department of Agriculture for financing this research under P.L. 480 and to Messrs. B.L. Burtt, I.C. Hedge and Miss J. Lamond of the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh for giving valuable suggestions.
