Rutidea DC.

Rubiaceae, D.M.Bridson & B.Verdcourt. Flora Zambesiaca 5:3. 2003

Morphology General Habit

Scandent shrubs or lianes, often with hairy stems.

Morphology Leaves

Leaves petiolate; domatia absent or present as hairy tufts in the axils of the lateral and sometimes the tertiary nerves beneath (referred to in text below as domatial hairy tufts); bacterial nodules absent; stipules with 3–15 fimbriae or with a single lobe.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers

Flowers hermaphrodite, 4–5(6)-merous, sessile or pedicellate in pyramidal to racemiform or hemispherical to flat-topped panicles, terminal on the main or short lateral branches, sessile to pedunculate (the presence of rudimentary leaves frequently renders this character ambiguous); bracts and bracteoles present, the latter either conspicuous and exceeding the calyx or inconspicuous.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx

Calyx tube ovoid to campanulate; limb-tube usually short, slightly wider than the tube, bearing 4–5(6) ovate, subulate, filiform to linear or triangular lobes.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla

Corolla white or cream-coloured, usually small, salver-shaped; tube cylindrical to funnel-shaped, glabrous to sparsely pubescent inside; lobes 4–5(6), contorted to the right in bud, spreading or reflexed.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium Stamens

Stamens attached at the mouth of the tube, exserted, or at least partly so; filaments short; anthers attached near the base or occasionally near the middle, usually shortly apiculate.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Disc

Disk fleshy, glabrous.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium Pistil

Ovary 2(3)-locular (or incompletely so); ovules solitary, inserted on a small fleshy placenta ascending from the base of the ovary; style slender, greatly or less often scarcely exceeding the corolla tube, glabrous or nearly so or less often densely pubescent just above the base; pollen presenter exserted or occasionally not fully exserted, fusiform, clavate or broadly elliptic to globose, entire (or rarely 2–3-lobed).

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Fruit frequently orange to red, drupaceous, spherical, somewhat fleshy with a chartaceous endocarp, 1-locular, calyx limb persistent or less often deciduous.

Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds

Seed 1 per fruit, globose, filling the locule, hilum basal, irregular; testa thin, reticulate, albumen horny, deeply ruminate; embryo curved.