Harrisonia R. Br. ex Adr. Juss., nom. cons.

Shrubs or rarely small trees, up to 12 m high or sprawling, spiny; branches pithy; branchlets pubescent when young, glabrous when mature, lenticellate; stipular spines accrescent, conical, slightly recurved, finally caducous. Leaves spiral, imparipinnate or 3-foliolate; rachis narrowly winged; leaflets rhomboid to ovate-lanceolate, subentire to coarsely crenate to serrate. Flowers bisexual, 4 - 5-merous, in bracteate axillary cymes or terminal thyrses. Calyx small, 4 - 5-lobed; lobes acute, 3-angular, persistent. Petals 4 - 5, longer than calyx, glabrous. Disk hemispherical. Stamens 8 - 10, attached at base of disk; filaments with small scales at base, glabrous. Ovary globose or lobed, seated on a thick disk, 4 - 5-celled; styles 4 - 5, free or connate at base; stigma 4 - 5-lobed, knob-shaped; ovule solitary, pendulous, amphitropous. Fruits globose, entire or lobed drupes; seeds with a thin testa, endospermous.

Tropics of Africa, Asia and Australia with 4 species; 2 species in India.

KEY TO THE SPECIES

1a. Leaves 3-foliolate; cymes 3 - 5-flowered; flowers usually 4-merous; petals whitish; drupes not lobed

1. Harrisonia brownii

b. Leaves imparipinnate; cymes 8 - 30-flowered; flowers usually 5-merous; petals pinkish; drupes lobed

2. Harrisonia perforata

List of Lower Taxa