Cleidion
Blume
Shrubs or small trees, monoecious or dioecious; indumentum of simple hairs or glabrous.
Leaves alternate, rarely subopposite, usually sinuate-toothed or crenate, penninerved, shortly
petioled with discoid glands near the base of lamina and at the top of petioles; stipules minute,
fugacious. Male flowers: fascicled on long axillary racemes, sometimes elongated; flower buds
globose to ovoid, pointed; calyx closed in bud, splitting into 3 or 4 valvate segments at anthesis;
petals and disc absent; stamens ca 20 or 40 - 80, in a globose mass on a conical receptacle or
arranged in regular ventral series; filaments free; anthers 4- or 2-loculed, transversely didymous,
dorsifixed, introrse; connective broadened, short; thecae separated, transversely didymous;
pistillode absent. Female flowers: axillary, solitary or pair wise on long peduncles; pedicels
usually long, apically thickened; sepals 3 - 5, imbricate; petals, disc and staminodes absent;
ovary subglobose, 4-grooved, 2 or 3-loculed; ovule 1 in each locule; styles 2 or 3, filiform,
elongated, shortly connate below, deeply bifid or 3-fid above, minutely papillose on inner face.
Fruits double-globose lobed capsules, 2 or 3-locular, schizocarpic, consisting 2 or rarely 3 twovalved
cocci; seeds subglobose, ecarunculate; testa coriaceous, often mottled; endosperm
fleshy; cotyledons broad and flat.
Tropical SE. Asia extending eastward to New Caledonia and Fiji Islands and westwards to Africa and America, ca 25 species; 2 species in India.
Literature. CHAKRABARTY, T., S. R. M. SUSILA RANI & N. P. BALAKRISHNAN (2004). Notes on the genus Cleidion Blume (Euphorbiaceae) in Indian Subcontinent. J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 28: 517 – 520. 2004 (publ. 2005). KULJO, K. K. M. & P. C. VAN WELZEN (2005). Revision of the genus Cleidion (Euphorbiaceae) in Malesia. Blumea 50: 197 – 219.
Tropical SE. Asia extending eastward to New Caledonia and Fiji Islands and westwards to Africa and America, ca 25 species; 2 species in India.
Literature. CHAKRABARTY, T., S. R. M. SUSILA RANI & N. P. BALAKRISHNAN (2004). Notes on the genus Cleidion Blume (Euphorbiaceae) in Indian Subcontinent. J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 28: 517 – 520. 2004 (publ. 2005). KULJO, K. K. M. & P. C. VAN WELZEN (2005). Revision of the genus Cleidion (Euphorbiaceae) in Malesia. Blumea 50: 197 – 219.
KEY TO THE SPECIES
| 1a. Leaves alternate or subopposite, shallowly repand-toothed or serrate all along the margins, dark green above and pale grey-green beneath and not shiny when dry; male spikes 5 - 20 cm long; female peduncles 5 - 7 cm long; female pedicels up to 18 cm long; fruits mostly didymous, 2 - 2.5 cm in diam.; seeds 10 - 15 mm in diam. | 1. Cleidion javanicum |
| b. Leaves alternate, entire along lower margins and coarsely repand-toothed or wavy-serrate at upper margins above the middle, dark reddish brown or blackish and shiny when dry; male spikes 10 - 35 cm long; female peduncles 4 - 5 cm long; female pedicels up to 5 cm long; fruits mostly tridymous, 1 - 1.5 cm in diam.; seeds 6 - 8 mm in diam. | 2. Cleidion nitidum |
