Allophylus L.

Shrubs, subscandent or small trees. Leaves alternate, exstipulate, 1 - 3-foliolate; leaflets entire, subentire or serrate. Flowers small polygamo-dioecious, pedicellate, fascicled in simple or branched axillary thyrses, white or yellowish. Sepals 4, in opposite pairs, imbricate, outer smaller. Petals 4, generally declinate, naked, inside or with a shaggy scale. Disc unilateral, usually with 4-glands, opposite the petals. Stamens 8, inserted and in bisexual flowers surrounding. the ovary. Ovary usually 2-lobed, 2-loculed; in male flowers merely a pistillode; styles 2, ovule 1 in each cell. Fruits indehiscent, 1 - 2-lobed; lobes subglobose. Seeds with short aril.

Tropical and subtropical America, Africa, Mascarine Island, Madagascar, Asia to Australia, Indian Archipelago and Pacific; ca 255 species, 9 in India.

Notes. The species of this genus are highly polymorphic and exhibit wide range of ecological variation.

Literature. LEENHOUTS, P.W. (1967). A conspectus of the Genus Allophylus (Sapindaceae). Blumea 15(2): 301-358. MUKERJEE, S.K. (1972). Indian Allophylus (Sapindaceae). Indian For. 98: 489-496.

KEY TO THE SPECIES

1a. Leaves unifoliolate

1. Allophylus chartaceus

b. Leaves trifoliolate

2

2a. Berry black

3

b. Berry red

5

3a. Climbers

3. Allophylus concanicus

b. Shrubs or small sized trees

4

4a. Leaflets glabrescent or puberulous along midrib and petiolules; fruits globose

2. Allophylus cobbe

b. Leaflets glabrous; fruits obovoid-subglobose

4. Allophylus dimorphus

5a. Leaves glabrous

6

b. Leaves tomentose

7

6a. Leaflets lanceolate

7. Allophylus subfalcatus

b. Leaflets ovate, elliptic or obovate

8. Allophylus triphyllus

7a. Racemes stout; leaflets oblong-lanceolate or oblong-ovate

9. Allophylus villosus

b. Racemes slender; leaflets obovate-ovate

8

8a. Bark of the branches yellowish brown

5. Allophylus rheedii

b. Bark of the branches whitish

6. Allophylus serratus

List of Lower Taxa