Seetzenia R. Br.

Herbs, perennial, spreading, woody, branches prostrate, glabrous to papillose. Leaves opposite, petiolate, trifoliolate; leaflets shortly petiolulate, apiculate, glabrous to pubescent above, papillose beneath, leathery; stipules triangular. Flowers solitary, axillary, greenish; pedicels reflexed at maturity. Sepals 5, free, deciduous. Petals absent. Disk small. Stamens 5, alternating with sepals; filaments filiform; anthers oblong to subglobose. Ovary oblong-clavate, 5-locular; ovules solitary in each locule; styles 5, free, divergent; stigma capitate. Capsules ovoid, 5-angled, pendulous, dehiscing into 5 cocci from persistent central axis; cocci thick and greenish on back, thin, muricate and straw-coloured on lateral walls; seeds flattened, elliptic-oblong, narrow. at both ends; testa thick; endosperm present; cotyledons thick.

Distrib. India: A unitypic genus sporadically distributed; Rajasthan.

Pakistan, Afghanistan, Arabia and Africa.

List of Lower Taxa