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Description from Flora of China

Aphania Blume; Erioglossum Blume; Howethoa Rauschert; Otophora Blume; Sapindopsis F. C. How & C. N. Ho (1955), not Fontaine (1889) [fossil].

Trees or shrubs, monoecious. Leaves usually paripinnate, alternate, estipulate, usually petiolate; leaflets 2 to several pairs, opposite or alternate, usually entire. Thyrses axillary, above axils or on old branches, solitary or several in fascicles. Flowers unisexual, actinomorphic or zygomorphic. Sepals 5, leathery, concave, imbricate, outer 2 smaller, orbicular, inner ones usually broadly ovate or elliptic. Petals 4 or 5, often spoon-shaped, longer than sepals, base clawed, apex with adaxial scale. Disk acetabuliform or semilunar, entire or lobed. Stamens (male flowers) 8, rarely more or fewer, with disk, longer than petals; filaments flat, usually hairy; anthers ellipsoid. Ovary (female flowers) 2- or 3-loculed, usually with grooves between locules; ovules 1 per locule; style short, apex inflated, entire or 2- or 3-lobed. Fruit ellipsoid or subglobose, 2- or 3-loculed; pericarp leathery or slightly fleshy, both sides or only abaxially hairy, rarely glabrous on both sides. Seeds ellipsoid, bilaterally slightly flat, without pseudotesta; testa brown, thinly leathery or crustaceous, often glabrous; embryo small, arched, cotyledons thick, radicles small, papillate.

Leenhouts (Blumea 18: 429-430. 1969; and in Adema et al., Fl. Males., ser. 1, 11(3): 627-653. 1994) revised the genus, combining several genera previously recognized in FRPS (including Aphania, Erioglossum, and Otophora) into Lepisanthes.

About 24 species: tropical Africa, S and SE Asia, NW Australia, Madagascar; eight species (four endemic) in China.

Lower Taxon


Related Objects  

Flora of China  
  • Lepisanthes.pdf
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