Pyrenacantha Wight

Dioecious. Woody climbers. Leaves alternate, margin glandular, repand, dentate or coarsely toothed, penninerved. Inflorescence in filiform, axillary or supra axillary spikes. Flowers unisexual, minute, sessile, bracteate. Calyx absent. Petals 4, oblong, united at the base, inflexed at the tip. Male flowers: Stamens 4; filaments short; anthers small. Rudimentary ovary villous. Female flowers: staminodes present or absent. Ovary oblong; stigma sessile, rounded or truncate. Drupe flattened; exocarp fleshy; endocarp hard, warty outside, verrucose inside. Seeds solitary; albumen ruminate; cotyledons large, foliaceous.

Mostly tropical and subtropical Africa and Madagascar, a few species in South East Asia; ca 20 species, I in India.

List of Lower Taxa