Elaeocarpaceae

Lantern Tree ( Crinodendron hookerianum )

The Elaeocarpaceae are a family in the order of the sorrel -like ( Oxalidales ) within the angiosperms ( Magnoliopsida ).

Description

Most species are evergreen and woody: Shrubs or trees; some species are erikoide shrubs; rarely there are herbaceous plants. The leaves are usually alternate and spiral, sometimes opposite or arranged in whorls ( Tetratheca ). In some species the petiole is swollen. The simple leaf blades are stained intensely red or orange, rarely yellow when they die. In some species the leaves are reduced to scales. The leaf margins are often serrated or toothed, rarely almost smooth. The stipules are small.

The flowers are borne singly or in pendent, zymösen, paniculate or racemose inflorescences often. The often drooping, with radial symmetry flowers are usually hermaphroditic, four or fünfzählig (rarely neunzählig ). The most four or five sepals are free, or at most adherent at its base. If four or five petals are present, they are usually grown free or rarely more than at its base. The mostly free 8-100 stamens are applied centrifugal and forth on a more or less enlarged discus or the base of the flower ( Receptakulum ). The anthers are usually much longer than the stamens. Usually two to ten or more carpels are fused into a superior ovaries, often only one carpel is present. The bloom A pen is available with one, usually two to ten scars, according to the number of carpels.

As a fruit capsule fruits are formed with or without spines, stone fruits, berries usually rare. In species with capsular fruits, the seeds are hairy.

Occurrence

Most species grow in tropical and subtropical regions, some species in the moderate latitudes. There are species in Madagascar, Southeast Asia, on the Malay Archipelago, eastern Australia, New Zealand, the Caribbean and Chile.

System

The Elaeocarpaceae family in 1816 by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in Augustin- de Candolle Pyrame: Essai sur les placed Propertys Médicales des Plantes, p 87. Type genus is Elaeocarpus L.. Synonyms for Elaeocarpaceae Juss. ex DC. are: Aristoteliaceae Dum, Tetrathecaceae R.Br., Tremandraceae R.Br.. ex DC ..

In the family of Elaeocarpaceae there ( nine to ) twelve genera with about 605 species:

• Aceratium DC. With about five species in Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Peru.
• Aristotelia L'Her. With about eight species.
• Crinodendron Molina: With about four species.
• Dubouzetia Pancher ex Brongn. & Gris: With approximately eleven species.
• Elaeocarpus L.: With approximately 350 species in Madagascar, India to Japan and Southeast Asia, Australasia, the Southwest Pacific and Hawaii.
• Peripentadenia LSSM. Perhaps with only the Australian Peripentadenia phelpsii B.Hyland & Coode
• Platytheca Steetz: With about six species.
• Sericolea Schltr. With the only kind: Sericolea werneri ( Lauterb. ) Schltr.

Use

From some species the fruits are eaten raw or dried. There are also medical applications.

Pictures

Elaeocarpus sylvestris var ellipticus:

Trunk and bark.

Inflorescence, the petals are are fringed.

Immature fruits and leaves.

Tetratheca thymifolia, a shrub erikoider:

Swell

• The Elaeocarpaceae in APWebsite family. (Section Description and systematics)
• The Elaeocarpaceae family at DELTA - Families of flowering Plants by L. Watson & MJ Dallwitz. ( Description section )
• Ya Tang & Cham Long Phengklai: Elaeocarpaceae in the Flora of China, Volume 12, 2007, p 223: Online. (Section Description and systematics)
• GJ Harden: Elaeocarpaceae in the Flora of New South Wales: Online. (Section Description and systematics)