Shrubs, lianas or sometimes stragglers with flexuous branches. Leaves simple, often
scabrid; petiole short, furrowed. Inflorescence few- to many-flowered panicles, terminal
or axillary. Flowers fragrant, actinomorphic, bisexual, often with bracts. Sepals 4 - 5,
rarely up to 15, imbricate, persistent, often reflexed in fruit. Petals 3 -
5, white or reddish
white, emarginate at apex, caducous. Stamens numerous, subequal; filaments free,
broadened at apex with broad connectives; anther-thecae downwardly divergent. Carpels 2 -
4 or solitary, free, each with a short straight style and 4 -
10 ovules in a single row.
Fruiting carpels follicular, 1 - 4, ovoid to globose, each with a short beak, 1 - 2-seeded,
coriaceous, dehiscing by longitudinal slits into 2 halves. Seeds glossy, dark brown or
blackish, fleshy, fimbriate or laciniate.
China, S. & S.E. Asia to Australia, Africa and America; ca 40 species, 4 in India.
Literature.
HOOGLAND, R. D.
(1953) The genus Tetracera (Dilleniaceae) in the eastern old
World. Reinwardtia 2: 185 - 224, ff. 1 -
10.
KEY TO THE SPECIES
1a. Inflorescence up to 12-flowered, without leaves at base; carpels 2 - 4
2
b. Inflorescence 30 or more flowered, with 1 - 5 small leaves at base; carpel 1, rarely 2
3
2a. Sepals glabrous outside, sericeous inside, except the margins
