Eriandra

Primary tabs

Eriandra

Description

Tree. Leaves alternate, petioled. Inflorescences fasciculate, axillary, short; Sepals 5 (or 4), equal, connate in basal half and adnate to the base of the petals, caducous as a whole together with the petals at the beginning of fruit-setting by a circumcision, the connate basal part persistent. Petals 5 or 4, connate for ¾, basally adnate to the sepals and halfway to the staminal tube, equal, the free parts half-orbicular. Stamens (8-)10, monadelphous; Ovary globose, 7-8-locular, each locule with 1 ovule; Fruit a fleshy globular berry, apically with a remnant of the style, basally with a remnant of the calyx tube. Seeds c. 4, flattened, radially, completely enveloped by an aril;

Distribution

Asia-Tropical: New Guinea present, Solomon Islands present
Solomon Islands; in Malesia: New Guinea. Monotypic.

Notes

In flowering and fruiting characters resembling the tropical American genus Diclidanthera MART., a genus of small trees and lianas differing in the 5-locular ovary (and fruit), the glabrous anthers, the constricted corolla tube and the exarillate seed. As the nearly regular flowers and the many-celled ovary are probably derived in the family, it is probable that both genera are closely allied.
STYER () studied the anatomy of Eriandra, and compared his results with those of the South American genera Barnhartia GLEASON, Moutabea AUBL. and Diclidanthera. He concluded (l.c.139. 139) that Eriandra, although a tree, has a 'lianous ancestry'.

Citation

STEEN. 1964 – In: Blumea: 319
HUTCH. 1967 – In: Gen. Fl. Pl.: 343