Ehretiaceae

Abstract

Trees or shrubs, rarely subshrubs, lianas or herbs, mostly evergreen; indumentum sericeous or hispid, plants rarely glabrous, trichomes usually simple, unicellular, eglandular, sometimes additionally glandular, rarely branched or dolabriform. Leaves mostly alternate, sometimes fasciculate, generally simple, petiolate or sessile, mostly exstipulate, coriaceous or membranaceous, bifacial. Inflorescences terminal or axillary, thyrsoidal, sometimes congested (appearing pseudoumbellate, subglobose or spicate), usually ebracteose, rarely flowers solitary. Flowers mostly perfect, occasionally unisexual, actinomorphic, tetracyclic, chasmogamous, sometimes dimorphic and dichogamous or cleistogamous, sessile or shortly pedicellate, often fragrant; perianth heterochlamydeous, usually pentamerous; calyx mostly synsepalous, persistent, sometimes accrescent and more or less enclosing the fruit, aestivation valvate or imbricate (quincuncial), lobes usually five, rarely four or more than five, equal, occasionally unequal and of varying shape; corolla sympetalous, usually white, rarely red, orange, yellow or blue, aestivation mostly imbricate (quincuncial), tube usually cylindrical or funnel-shaped, mostly porrect, lobes usually five or rarely more, spreading or reflexed; androecium usually haplostemonous, antesepalous and epipetalous, stamens five, rarely four or more than five, filaments linear, more or less adnate to corolla tube, anthers tetrasporangiate, included or exserted, dorsifixed, opening with longitudinal slits; gynoecium superior, mostly bicarpellate, syncarpous, ovules four, orthotropous or anatropous, unitegmic, style terminal, stigmatic lobes one, two or four; nectary disk often present. Fruits usually four-seeded, mostly indehiscent and drupaceous, rarely schizocarpous, one or more seeds occasionally abortive, endocarp entire or endocarpids (pyrenes) two or four, in total enclosing four, two or one seeds, sometimes with additional sterile chambers including placental tissue. Testa with transfer cells, embryo straight to curved, endosperm copious or absent, cotyledons flat or plicate.