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(Last Modified On 3/8/2013)
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(Last Modified On 3/8/2013)
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Family
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ELAEOCARPACEAE
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Contributor
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C. EARLE SMITH, JR.
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Description
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Trees or shrubs. Leaves alternate or opposite, simple, stipulate (at least in bud). Inflorescences generally axillary, rarely terminal, racemose, paniculate or reduced to a single flower. Flowers regular, perfect (rarely unisexual through abor- tion), 4- to 5-merous; sepals free or connate, valvate; petals free, rarely basally connate, sometimes incised or hairy, sometimes lacking; stamens numerous, usually free, borne on a fleshy receptacle, in the genus Aristotelia united into an andro- gynophore; anthers 2-celled, dehiscing longitudinally or by terminal pores, often surmounted by an awn; ovary superior, 2- to oc-loculed (rarely 1-loculed), the ovules 2-oc in each locule, anatropous, hanging; style entire or divided into as many lobes as there are locules in the ovary, or stigma sessile and sublobate. Fruit capsular, septicidally or loculicidally dehiscent, the locules oc-seeded or, by abor- tion, 1-seeded, or fruit baccate or drupaceous; seeds naked or frequently arillate, the embryo straight, the endosperm copious.
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Habit
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Trees shrubs
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Note
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Separated from the Tiliaceae primarily on the basis of the lack of mucilaginous ducts and canals.
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Distribution
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This family of nine genera and 150 or more species is distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical areas of the world. Included are a few cold-tolerant species whose ranges extend into the warm-temperate zone.
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Note
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None are of more than local economic importance for lumber and only one or two species of Aristotelia, Crinodendron and Elaeocarpus have been planted as ornamentals. The Panama- nian representatives of the Elaeocarpaceae are all forest trees of the genus Sloanea which occur only sporadically through the rainforest, except Muntingia calabura which may be shrubby.
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Key
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a. Fruit capsular; flowers apetalous ............................ 1. SLOANEA aa. Fruit baccate; flowers petaliferous ............................ 2. MUNTINGIA
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