Family Pentadiplandraceae

Pentadiplandraceae Hutch. & Dalziel

~ Capparidaceae

Habit and leaf form. Large shrubs, or lianas. Self supporting, or climbing. Leaves alternate; petiolate; non-sheathing; not gland-dotted; simple. Lamina entire; pinnately veined; cross-venulate. Leaves exstipulate. Lamina margins entire.

Stem anatomy. Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring, or anomalous (?).

Reproductive type, pollination. Plants polygamomonoecious. Female flowers with staminodes (ten, filiform). Gynoecium of male flowers pistillodial (the style lacking, the ovules abortive).

Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in racemes. The ultimate inflorescence unit racemose. Inflorescences axillary; short axillary racemes, the flowers long-pedicellate, opening at an early stage and enlarging subsequently. Flowers minutely bracteate; regular; cyclic. Floral receptacle developing a gynophore. Free hypanthium absent. Hypogynous disk present; extrastaminal; annular (cupular, thick and fleshy).

Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 10; 2 whorled; isomerous. Calyx 5; 1 whorled; polysepalous; valvate. Corolla 5; 1 whorled; polypetalous, or gamopetalous (the petals loosely coherent or connivent at the thickened, scalelike bases or claws, the limbs free, lanceolate, thin, acuminate); imbricate. Petals clawed, or sessile.

Androecium 9–13. Androecial members branched, or unbranched (?); maturing centrifugally; free of the perianth; free of one another, or coherent (?). Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 9–13; diplostemonous to triplostemonous; filantherous (the filaments filiform). Anthers basifixed (small); dehiscing via longitudinal slits; latrorse; appendaged. The anther appendages apical (the connective forming a terminal knob).

Gynoecium of female-fertile flowers 3–5 carpelled. Carpels reduced in number relative to the perianth to isomerous with the perianth. The pistil 3–5 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synstylovarious to eu-syncarpous; superior. Ovary 3–5 locular; shortly stipitate. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 1 (elongate); attenuate from the ovary; apical. Stigmas 1, or 3; if considered single, 4–5 lobed. Placentation axile. Ovules 3–10 per locule (‘several’); 2–3 seriate in each locule.

Fruit fleshy; indehiscent; a berry (globose, brownish-scaly); many-seeded. Seeds small.

Geography, cytology. Paleotropical. Tropical. Tropical Africa.

Taxonomy. Subclass Dicotyledonae; Crassinucelli. Dahlgren’s Superorder Violiflorae (?); Capparales (?). Cronquist’s Subclass Dilleniidae; Capparales. APG 3 core angiosperms; core eudicot; Superorder Rosanae; malvid; Order Brassicales.

Species 2. Genera 1; only genus, Pentadiplandra.