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  1. Family: Combretaceae R.Br.

    1. Combretum Loefl.

        2. This genus is accepted, and its native range is Tropics & Subtropics.

    [FTEA]

    Combretaceae, G. E. Wickens. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1973

    Habit
    Trees, shrubs, shrublets or woody climbers, very rarely subherbaceous; scales or microscopic (and sometimes macroscopic) stalked glands present
    Leaves
    Leaves opposite, verticillate or rarely alternate, usually petiolate, almost always entire; petiole sometimes persisting (especially in climbers), forming a ± hooked spine
    Flowers
    Flowers hermaphrodite (in Flora area), regular or slightly zygomorphic (not in Flora area), 4–5-merous, in elongated or subcapitate axillary or extra-axillary spikes or racemes or in terminal or terminal and axillary, often leafy, panicles
    Receptacle
    Receptacle usually clearly divided into a lower part (lower receptacle) surrounding and adnate to the ovary, and an upper part (upper receptacle) varying from patelliform to infundibuliform and itself sometimes visibly differentiated into a lower part containing the disk (when present) and an often more expanded upper part
    Calyx
    Sepals 4 or 5 (rarely more), deltate to ± subulate or filiform, sometimes scarcely developed
    Corolla
    Petals usually 4 or 5 in Flora area (rarely absent in aberrant specimens), small and inconspicuous or showy and exceeding the sepals
    Stamens
    Stamens twice as many as the petals, inserted in 1 or 2 series inside the upper receptacle and usually exserted
    Disc
    Disk glabrous or hairy, with or without a free margin, sometimes inconspicuous or absent
    Pistil
    Style free (in E. African species); stigma sometimes ± expanded; ovary completely inferior
    Fruits
    Fruit 4–5-winged, -ridged or -angled, sessile or stipitate, indehiscent or rarely tardily dehiscent; pericarp usuallythin and papery, sometimes leathery, more rarely fleshy
    Seeds
    Cotyledons various.
    [FZ]

    Combretaceae, A. W. Exell. Flora Zambesiaca 4. 1978

    Leaves
    Leaves opposite, verticillate or rarely alternate, usually petiolate (rarely subsessile), almost always entire; petiole sometimes persisting (especially in climbers) forming a ± hooked spine.
    Flowers
    Flowers always hermaphrodite (in our area), actinomorphic or slightly zygomorphic (not in our area), 4–5-merous, in elongated or subcapitate axillary or extra-axillary spikes or racemes or in terminal or terminal and axillary often leafy panicles.
    Receptacle
    Receptacle usually clearly divided into a lower part (lower receptacle) surrounding and adnate to the ovary and an upper part (upper receptacle) varying from patelliform to infundibuliform and itself sometimes visibly differentiated into a lower part containing the disk (when present) and an often more expanded upper part.
    Calyx
    Sepals (calyx-lobes) 4–5 (rarely more), deltate to ± subulate or filiform, sometimes scarcely developed.
    Corolla
    Petals usually 4–5 (rarely absent, in aberrant specimens and up to 7 in occasional flowers), small and inconspicuous to showy and exceeding the sepals, of various colours.
    Stamens
    Stamens twice as many as the petals inserted in 1 or more usually 2 series inside the upper receptacle and usually exserted.
    Disc
    Disk glabrous or hairy, with or without a free margin, sometimes inconspicuous or absent.
    Pistil
    Style free (in our species); stigma sometimes ± expanded.
    Ovary
    Ovary completely inferior.
    Fruits
    Fruit 4–5-winged, -ridged or -angled, sessile or stipitate, indehiscent or rarely tardily dehiscent; pericarp usually thin and papery, sometimes leathery, more rarely fleshy.
    Seeds
    Cotyledons various.
    Habit
    Plants lepidote or with microscopic (and sometimes macroscopic) stalked glands. Trees, shrubs, shrublets or woody climbers, very rarely subherbaceous.
    [FTEA]

    Combretaceae, G. E. Wickens. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1973

    Habit
    Woody climbers; stalked glands present, peltate scales absent
    Leaves
    Leaves opposite or subopposite, entire, glabrous or hairy; bases of the petioles persisting as spines after leaf-fall
    Flowers
    Flowers hermaphrodite, regular or slightly zygomorphic, 5-merous, in elongated, usually unbranched, terminal or axillary bracteate spikes
    Receptacle
    Receptacle hairy or nearly glabrous; upper receptacle infundibuli-form, elongate-infundibuliform or trumpet-shaped
    Calyx
    Sepals triangular, sometimes with filiform tips
    Corolla
    Petals 2–20 mm. long, exceeding the sepals and enlarging during anthesis
    Stamens
    Stamens 10, biseriate, inserted near the mouth of the upper receptacle and not exserted beyond the petals
    Disc
    Disk narrowly tubular or absent
    Style
    Style adnate for part of its length to the inner wall of the upper receptacle
    Fruits
    Fruit 5-winged, dehiscent or indehiscent.

    Images

    Distribution

    Native to:

    Andaman Is., Angola, Argentina Northeast, Assam, Bangladesh, Belize, Benin, Bismarck Archipelago, Bolivia, Borneo, Botswana, Brazil North, Brazil Northeast, Brazil South, Brazil Southeast, Brazil West-Central, Burkina, Burundi, Cabinda, Cambodia, Cameroon, Cape Provinces, Caprivi Strip, Caroline Is., Central African Repu, Chad, China South-Central, China Southeast, Christmas I., Colombia, Congo, Costa Rica, Cuba, Djibouti, Dominican Republic, East Himalaya, Ecuador, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Free State, French Guiana, Gabon, Gambia, Ghana, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gulf of Guinea Is., Guyana, Hainan, Haiti, Honduras, India, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Jawa, Kenya, KwaZulu-Natal, Laos, Leeward Is., Lesser Sunda Is., Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaya, Mali, Maluku, Mauritania, Mexico Central, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Northwest, Mexico Southeast, Mexico Southwest, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, New Guinea, Nicaragua, Nicobar Is., Niger, Nigeria, Northern Provinces, Northern Territory, Pakistan, Panamá, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Queensland, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Sulawesi, Sumatera, Suriname, Swaziland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Togo, Trinidad-Tobago, Uganda, Uruguay, Venezuela, Vietnam, West Himalaya, Western Australia, Western Sahara, Windward Is., Yemen, Zambia, Zaïre, Zimbabwe

    Introduced into:

    Hawaii, Mauritius, New Caledonia, Puerto Rico, Rodrigues, Réunion, Venezuelan Antilles

    Combretum Loefl. appears in other Kew resources:

    Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status
    May 1, 2006 Cheek, M. [11917], Cameroon K000460263
    May 1, 2006 Cheek, M. [11698], Cameroon K000460264
    Etuge, M. [1512], Cameroon 63800.000
    Hatschbach, G.G. [37687], Brazil K001108961
    s.coll. [Cat. no. s.n.], Myanmar K001132349
    Tanzania Kleinia 16256.000
    Ash [1172 35498], Ethiopia Kleinia 35497.000
    Ash [1172 35498], Ethiopia Kleinia 35498.000
    Ash [1623], Ethiopia Kleinia 35828.000
    Bally, P.R.O. [4671], Kenya Kleinia 12303.000
    Bally, P.R.O. [4671], Kenya Kleinia 14508.000
    Bally, P.R.O. [B.4671], Kenya Kleinia 16252.000
    Bally, P.R.O. [14551], Kenya Kleinia 33465.000
    Bally, P.R.O. [B6210], Kenya Kleinia 4759.000
    Bullock, A.A. [1080], Tanzania Kleinia 16257.000
    Brummitt, R.K. [10013], Malawi Kleinia 53754.000
    Collenette, J.S. [8931], Oman Kleinia 57996.000

    First published in Iter Hispan.: 308 (1758)

    Accepted by

    • Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. MIM, Deurne.

    Literature

    Flora of West Tropical Africa
    • —F.T.A. 2: 419
    Flora Zambesiaca
    • Iter Hisp.: 308 (1758) nom. conserv.
    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    • Iter Hispan.: 308 (1758), nom. conserv. For full synonymy see Exell in J.B. 69: 116 (1931)

    Sources

    Art and Illustrations in Digifolia
    Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew

    Flora Zambesiaca
    Flora Zambesiaca
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    Flora of Tropical East Africa
    http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0

    Flora of West Tropical Africa
    Flora of West Tropical Africa

    Herbarium Catalogue Specimens
    'The Herbarium Catalogue, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet http://www.kew.org/herbcat [accessed on Day Month Year]'. Please enter the date on which you consulted the system.
    Digital Image © Board of Trustees, RBG Kew http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

    Kew Backbone Distributions
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2020. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

    Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2020. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
    © Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

    Plants and People Africa
    Common Names from Plants and People Africa http://www.plantsandpeopleafrica.com/
    © Plants and People Africa http://www.plantsandpeopleafrica.com http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/