Colubrina
A. Rich. ex Brongn., nom. cons.
Scandent or erect shrubs or trees, unarmed or rarely armed. Leaves
alternate or opposite, basally 3-nerved or penninerved, petiolate; stipules small,
deciduous. Inflorescence axillary, thyrsoid or cymose fascicles. Flowers small,
protandrous, 5-merous; calyx, corolla and androecium attached to the rim of
hemispheric or shallow floral cup. Calyx lobes 5, spreading, valvate, deltoid,
pubescent without, deciduous along the rim of the cup; tube hemispherical.
Petals 5, cucullate, obovate, convolute, clawed at base, inserted below the
disc. Stamens 5; filaments filiform; anthers ovate. Disc fleshy, annular, flat,
and nearly completely surrounding the ovary, accrescent along the cup and
adnate to the lower fifth to half of capsule. Ovary inferior, 3-loculed; style
3-celft; stigmas truncate or obtuse. Capsules nearly globular, slightly 3-lobed,
dehiscing septicidally into 3 cocci; exocarp thin. Seeds obovoid, compressed,
3-gonous; albumen fleshy, thin; cotyledons flat or incurved; embryo flat.
Mostly in the warmer parts of America, also occurring in Hawaii, Madagascar and S.E. Asia; 31 species, 2 in India.
Notes. In India the genus is characteristic to coastal areas, just above high tide level.
Mostly in the warmer parts of America, also occurring in Hawaii, Madagascar and S.E. Asia; 31 species, 2 in India.
Notes. In India the genus is characteristic to coastal areas, just above high tide level.
KEY TO THE SPECIES
| 1a. Leaves ovate, basally 3-nerved; lateral nerves 2-3 pairs | 1. Colubrina asiatica |
| b. Leaves elliptic to lanceolate, penninerved; lateral nerves 4-6 pairs | 2. Colubrina travancorica |
