Family Bischofiaceae

Bischofiaceae (Muell. Arg.) Airy Shaw

~ Euphorbiaceae

Habit and leaf form. Large trees. Leaves deciduous; alternate; petiolate; compound; ternate, or pinnate (3(–5) foliolate). Lamina pinnately veined; cross-venulate. Leaves stipulate. Stipules scaly (membranous); caducous.

Stem anatomy. Vessel end-walls scalariform and simple.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers functionally male and functionally female (rarely), or functionally male, or functionally female. Plants monoecious (rarely), or dioecious. Female flowers with staminodes (minute), or without staminodes. Gynoecium of male flowers in the form of a broad, peltate, shortly stipitate pistillode.

Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’. The ultimate inflorescence unit cymose. Inflorescences axillary; many flowered thyrses. Flowers small. Free hypanthium absent. Hypogynous disk absent.

Perianth sepaline (corolla lacking); 5; 1 whorled. Calyx 5; 1 whorled; polysepalous; imbricate (in female flowers), or valvate (induplicate, in male flowers).

Androecium 5. Androecial members free of the perianth; free of one another; 1 whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 5; isomerous with the perianth; oppositisepalous (and enclosed by them); very shortly filantherous (the anthers large). Anthers introrse.

Gynoecium 3 carpelled. Carpels reduced in number relative to the perianth. The pistil 3 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synstylovarious; superior. Ovary 3 locular. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 1 (short); apical. Stigmas 3 (these elongate, linear-subulate, spreading or reflexed). Ovules 2 per locule; pendulous.

Fruit fleshy; indehiscent; a drupe (small, globose, with horny endocarp); 3–6 seeded. Seeds endospermic.

Geography, cytology. Holarctic and Paleotropical. Tropical. Tropical Asia.

Taxonomy. Subclass Dicotyledonae; Crassinucelli. Dahlgren’s Superorder Malviflorae; Euphorbiales. Cronquist’s Subclass Rosidae; Euphorbiales. APG (1998) Eudicot; core Eudicot; Rosid; Eurosid I. APG 3 (2009) Order: Malpighiales.

Species 2. Genera 1; only genus, Bischofia.

Illustrations.
• Technical details: Bischoffia.

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