Shrubs. Leaves opposite, simple, entire, 3-nerved, without stipules. Flowers in racemes, hermaphrodite or polygamous. Sepals 5, imbricate in bud. Petals shorter, fleshy, enlarged after flowering. Stamens 10. Anthers opening inwards. Carpels 5, distinct. Ovule 1 in each carpel, pendulous, inverted, with dorsal raphe. Fruit with a crustaceous rind, indehiscent. Seeds with scanty albumen.
Genus 1, species 1. North-west Africa. Poisonous and used for tanning and dyeing. Coriaria L.
SUBORDER ANACARDIINEAE
[FAMILY 127.] ANACARDIACEAE
Trees or shrubs. Juice resinous. Leaves usually alternate, without stipules. Flowers in panicles, usually polygamous. Corolla present, rarely (Pistacia) absent. Ovary superior, 1-5-celled. Ovules solitary in each cell, inverted, with dorsal raphe. Fruit usually a drupe. Albumen of the seeds scanty or wanting.—Genera 29, species 250. (TEREBINTHACEAE.) (Plate 81.)
1. Carpel 1. Style simple, lateral; stigma entire. Funicle basal. Fertile stamen 1, rarely 5. Leaves simple, entire. Trees. [Tribe MANGIFEREAE.] 2
Carpels 2-5, sometimes 1-4 of them rudimentary. Style simple with a lobed stigma, or more or less deeply divided, or several free styles.
Fertile stamens 3 or more. Leaves usually compound. 5
2. Stamen 1. Filament broad. Calyx 4-lobed. Petals 4. Disc one-sided.
Leaves lanceolate.—Species 2. West Africa. The fruits are edible.
(Under Mangifera L.) Fegimanra Pierre
Stamens 5-10, but usually 1 only fertile. Petals 5. 3
3. Fertile stamens 5. Calyx bursting irregularly.—Species 1. Madagascar.
The juice is used for preparing varnishes and medicaments. Gluta L.
Fertile stamen 1, usually accompanied by 4 or 9 sterile ones, which bear small anthers. Calyx 5-partite. 4
4. Stamens and staminodes together 5. Disc cushion-shaped. Fruit egg-shaped, with a fleshy pericarp and a slightly thickened stalk. Leaves lanceolate.—Species 1 (M. indica L., mango-tree). Cultivated in the tropics. Yields timber, gum, tanning and dyeing materials, edible fruits from which a spirituous drink is prepared, starch from the seeds, and medicaments. Mangifera Burm.
Stamens and staminodes together 10. Disc indistinct. Fruit kidney-shaped, with a resinous pericarp and a much thickened, fleshy stalk.
Leaves obovate.—Species 1 (A. occidentale L., cashew-tree). Cultivated in the tropics. Yields timber, gum, tanning and dyeing materials, oil, vermin-poison, edible seeds and fruit-stalks from which vinegar and brandy are prepared, and medicaments. Anacardium L.
5. (1.) Ovary with 1 fertile cell and sometimes 1-2 empty and usually rudimentary ones, rarely (Protorhus) with 3 fertile cells; in this case stamens 5 and leaves simple. [Tribe RHOIDEAE.] 6
Ovary with 3-5 fertile cells. Stamens 6-15 and leaves compound, rarely stamens 5 and leaves simple, but then ovary-cells and styles 5.
[Tribe SPONDIEAE.] 20
6. Perianth simple, consisting of 1-2 segments in the male, of 2-5 in the female flowers. Stamens 3-5. Style 3-cleft. Leaves compound.—Species
5, one of them only cultivated. North Africa and northern East
Africa. They yield timber, tanning and dyeing materials, resins (mastic and turpentine) which are used industrially, in medicine, as fumigatories, masticatories, or condiments, and for preparing spirituous drinks, also edible oily fruits and seeds (pistachio-nuts) and various medicaments. Pistacia L.
Perianth consisting of a calyx and a corolla. 7
7. Style 1, undivided, rarely (Micronychia) shortly cleft at the top, or a slightly lobed sessile stigma. 8
Styles 3, free or united at the base, sometimes recurved and adnate to the ovary, or 3 free sessile stigmas. 13
8. Leaves simple, undivided. 9
Leaves compound, pinnate. 11
9. Stamens 6-10, twice as many as the petals. Ovary with 1 fertile and 1 sterile cell. Style absent. Trees with small flowers.—Species 2.
Madagascar and Seychelles. Campnosperma Thwait.
Stamens 4-5, as many as the petals. Ovary 1-celled. Style present. 10
10. Corolla of the male flowers equalling the calyx. Disc broad, fleshy. Filaments thread-shaped. Ovary and fruit much compressed. Style short, undivided, with a 3-lobed stigma. Shrubs. Leaves serrate.
Flowers small. Female inflorescence finally with broadened branches and hardened bracts.—Species 1. South Africa (Cape Colony).
(Botryceras Willd.) Laurophyllus Thunb.
Corolla much exceeding the calyx. Disc cup-shaped. Filaments broad.
Ovary and fruit slightly compressed. Style long, shortly 3-cleft at the top. Trees. Leaves entire. Flowers rather large.—Species 1.
Madagascar. Micronychia Oliv.
11. Receptacle deeply cupular; hence petals and stamens distinctly perigynous.
Calyx valvate, corolla imbricate in the bud. Stamens 5-10. Ovary sessile. Style thin. Fruit dry, indehiscent.—Species 1. West
Africa. Thyrsodium Benth.
Receptacle flattish or convex; hence petals and stamens hypogynous or nearly so. Style thick or wanting. 12
12. Petals imbricate in the bud; sepals imbricate. Stamens 4-5, as many as the petals. Ovary and fruit with a compressed stalk. Stigma sessile. Fruit sickle-shaped, dry, indehiscent.—Species 1. Madagascar. Faguetia March.
Petals valvate in the bud. Stamens 5-20, usually more than petals.
Ovary and fruit sessile, the latter drupaceous.—Species 20. Tropics.
Some species yield timber, gum, and edible fruits. Sorindeia Thouars
13. (7.) Ovule basal or suspended from a basal funicle. 14
Ovule suspended from the top or the flank of the cavity. 16
14. Ovule subbasal, ascending. Styles lateral, thread-shaped. Ovary compressed.
Stamens 5, alternating with 2-cleft scales. Petals of the male flowers longer, of the female shorter than the sepals. Sepals lanceolate, enlarged in the fruit. Flowers dioecious. Leaves pinnate; stalk winged.—Species
1. South Africa. Loxostylis Spreng. fil.
Ovule suspended from the basal funicle. Styles terminal. Flowers polygamous. 15
15. Endocarp crusty or bony, finally separating from the mesocarp. Seedcoat thin. Leaves alternate, usually compound.—Species 100. Some of them yield timber, tanning and dyeing materials (sumac), condiments, medicaments, and edible fruits; others are used as ornamental plants. Rhus L.
Endocarp leathery, not separating from the mesocarp. Seed-coat thick.
Leaves undivided, narrow, with numerous parallel side-nerves.—Species
18. Tropical and South Africa. Some yield timber. (Anaphrenium
E. Mey.) Heeria Meissn.
16. Leaves simple, undivided. Stamens 5. 17
Leaves compound, trifoliolate or pinnate. 18
17. Filaments broadened. Ovary 1-celled. Ovule attached laterally. Styles
sickle-shaped, united at the base, with capitate stigmas. Fruit transversely oblong; endocarp very thin. Embryo with thick cotyledons.—Species
1. Madagascar. Used medicinally. Baronia Bak.
Filaments awl-shaped. Ovary usually 3-celled. Ovule attached at the top of the cell. Stigmas sessile. Fruit oblong; endocarp woody.
Leaves opposite or nearly so, with numerous parallel side-nerves.—Species
10. Madagascar and South-east Africa. Some species are poisonous or used medicinally. Protorhus Engl.
18. Leaflets 3, toothed. Stamens 5. Ovary compressed. Styles lateral, thread shaped. Fruit winged; endocarp very thin, mesocarp resinous.
Shrubs.—Species 1. South Africa. Smodingium E. Mey.
Leaflets 5 or more. Styles more or less terminal. 19
19. Stamens 4-5. Fruit with a crusty endocarp, a fibrous mesocarp, and a fleshy exocarp. Embryo with a short radicle.—Species 30. Central
Africa. Some have edible fruits. (Emiliomarcelia Hel. et Th. Dur.) Trichoscypha Hook. fil.
Stamens 10. Fruit with a hard endocarp, an oily mesocarp, and a parchment-like exocarp. Embryo with a long radicle. Shrubs.—Species 2.
Cultivated in North Africa, the Cape Verde Islands, and the Mascarenes.
They yield timber, resin used industrially and medicinally, tanning and dyeing materials, vinegar, syrup, and medicaments. Schinus L.
20. (5.) Stamens 5, as many as the petals. Disc consisting of 5 scales. Styles
5. Leaves simple, undivided.—Species 2. West Africa. Spondianthus Engl.
Stamens 6-15, twice as many as the petals or more. Leaves compound. 21
21. Petals valvate in bud. 22
Petals imbricate in bud. 23
22. Flowers dioecious, 4-merous. Petals lanceolate, with inflexed tips. Male flowers with a sterile ovary and a simple style. Leaflets 3, serrate.—Species
1. Equatorial East Africa. Spondiopsis Engl.
Flowers polygamous, usually 5-merous. Petals oblong ovate or elliptical, finally recurved. Styles in the female and hermaphrodite flowers 4-5, free. Leaflets 5 or more, usually with a marginal nerve.—Species 4, two of them growing wild in equatorial West Africa, the others cultivated in the tropics. They yield timber, gum, tanning material, medicaments, and edible fruits from which a spirituous drink is prepared.
(Including Antrocaryon Pierre). Spondias L.
23. Sepals free. Stone of the fruit with 3-4 lids at the top. 24
Sepals more or less united. 25
24. Flowers dioecious, 3-4-merous. Anthers subglobose, versatile. Seeds oblong, terete.—Species 2. Central Africa. The fruits are edible.
(Under Spondias L.). Pseudospondias Engl.
Flowers polygamous, 4-5-merous. Anthers oblong, continuous with the filament. Ovary-cells and styles usually 3. Seeds club-shaped, somewhat
ANACARDIACEAE.
FLOW. PL. AFR.
Pl. 81.