Family:
Pandaceae Engl. & Gilg

Microdesmis Planch.

This genus is accepted, and its native range is Tropical Africa, Tropical Asia.

[FTEA]

Pandaceae, A. R.-Smith. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1988

Morphology General Habit
Dioecious trees or shrubs
Morphology Leaves
Leaves alternate, distichous, simple, entire to serrate, mucronulate, often unequal at the base, finely pellucid-punctate, petiolate; stipules small, generally persistent
Morphology General Buds
Terminal bud often claw-like
sex Male
Male flowers in dense many-flowered axillary or supraaxillary fascicles or abbreviated racemes; bracts minute; calyx 5-partite or lobed, slightly imbricate; petals larger than the calyx-lobes, contorted or imbricate in bud, flattened; disc 0; stamens 5, uniseriate, opposite the sepals (in Africa) or 10, biseriate, outer ones opposite the sepals (in Asia), equal; filaments short, broad or thick, ensconced between and free from or adnate to the lobes of the pistillode; anthers with the connective produced or not; staminodes 0; pistillode pentagonal at the base, subcylindric at the apex (in Africa)
Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers
Female flowers usually in fewer-flowered fascicles than ♂; calyx and petals as in ♂; glands at the base of the sepals; petals caducous; disc 0; ovary 2–5-locular, with 1 ovule per locule, fleshy; styles 2–5, bipartite, laciniate-papillose, spreading Male flowers in dense many-flowered axillary or supraaxillary fascicles or abbreviated racemes; bracts minute; calyx 5-partite or lobed, slightly imbricate; petals larger than the calyx-lobes, contorted or imbricate in bud, flattened; disc 0; stamens 5, uniseriate, opposite the sepals (in Africa) or 10, biseriate, outer ones opposite the sepals (in Asia), equal; filaments short, broad or thick, ensconced between and free from or adnate to the lobes of the pistillode; anthers with the connective produced or not; staminodes 0; pistillode pentagonal at the base, subcylindric at the apex (in Africa)
sex Female
Female flowers usually in fewer-flowered fascicles than ♂; calyx and petals as in ♂; glands at the base of the sepals; petals caducous; disc 0; ovary 2–5-locular, with 1 ovule per locule, fleshy; styles 2–5, bipartite, laciniate-papillose, spreading
Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits
Fruits drupaceous, ovoid or subglobose and smooth in the fresh state, ± smooth, verrucose or muricate when dry; endocarp woody, fairly thin, tubercled or muricate, dark coloured
Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds
Seeds broadly ovate, flattened or curved; testa crustaceous, shiny.10 species, of which 2 are Asiatic, the rest African.

Native to:

Angola, Benin, Borneo, Cabinda, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central African Repu, China South-Central, China Southeast, Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Gulf of Guinea Is., Hainan, Ivory Coast, Laos, Liberia, Malaya, Myanmar, Nigeria, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Sumatera, Thailand, Togo, Uganda, Vietnam, Zaïre

Microdesmis Planch. appears in other Kew resources:

Date Reference Identified As Barcode Type Status Has image?
May 1, 1975 Letouzey, R. [13668], Cameroon K000181293 No
Thomas, D.W. [7590], Cameroon K000181288 No
Etuge, M. [190], Cameroon K000181283 No
Nemba, J. [90], Cameroon K000181287 No
Maitland, T.D. [779], Cameroon K000181294 No

First published in Hooker's Icon. Pl. 8: t. 758 (1848)

Accepted by

  • Govaerts, R. (2003). World Checklist of Selected Plant Families Database in ACCESS: 1-216203. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

Literature

Flora of West Tropical Africa

  • Pax & K. Hoffm. in Engl. Pflanzenr. Euph. 3: 105 (1911).
  • —F.T.A. 6, 1: 741

Flora of Tropical East Africa

  • G.P. 3: 287 (1880)
  • Hutch. in F.T.A. 6 (1): 741 (1912)
  • J. Léon, in B.J.B.B. 31: 159 (1961)
  • Muell. Arg. in DC., Prodr. 15(2): 1041 (1866)
  • Pax in E. & P. Pf. 3(5): 82 (1890)
  • in E.P. IV. 147(3): 105 (1911)
  • in F.C.B. 8: 102 (1962)
  • in Hook., Ic. Pl. 8, t. 758 (1848)

  • Flora of Tropical East Africa

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

  • Herbarium Catalogue Specimens

  • Kew Backbone Distributions

    The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2022. 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 2022. 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