Family: Euphorbiaceae
Adriana
Citation:
Gaudich., Annls Sci. nat. 5:223 (1825).
Derivation: After the celebrated French botanist Adrien de Jussieu, 1797-1853.
Synonymy: Not Applicable Common name: Bitterbushes.
Description:
Erect shrubs, glabrous or stellate-tomentose, often glandular; dioecious; leaves alternate or opposite, coarsely toothed sometimes trilobed; stipules replaced by nectariferous glands.
Flowers in terminal spikes, without petals or any glands; the male flowers in rather long bracteate spikes, sessile in clusters of 3-6 in the axils of ovate or lanceolate bracts, perianths globular and closed in bud, opening in 4 rarely 5 valvate segments; stamens numerous, crowded on a slightly raised receptacle without any rudimentary ovary, with very short filaments and linear 2-celled anthers terminating in an erect appendage, the cells adnate, parallel, dehiscent longitudinally in 2 valves; the females in shorter few- to several-flowered spikes, calyx of 5-8 imbricate sepals in about 2 rows; ovary 3-celled, with 1 ovule in each cell; styles 3, mostly 2-fid, free or shortly united towards the base, densely covered or fringed with much raised linear papillae.
Capsule ovoid, separating into 3 2-valved fruitlets; seeds ovoid, carunculate terminally; testa crustaceous; albumen copious; cotyledons flat, much broader than the radicle.
Distribution:
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An Australian genus of 6 species.
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Biology:
No text
Taxonomic notes:
The species are very closely allied to each other and might easily be reduced to varieties of 2 or even 1 species (Bentham (1873) Flora Australiensis 6:133).
Key to Species:
Author:
Not yet available
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