The World Flora Online

SELECTED REFERENCES

Adamson, R. S. and H. M. L. Bolus. 1950. Aizoaceae. In: R. S. Adamson and T. M. Salter. 1950. Flora of the Cape Peninsula. Cape Town. Pp. 363-365. Boetsch, J. R. 2002. The Aizoaceae and Molluginaceae of the southeastern United States. Castanea 67: 42-53. Brown, N. E., A. Tischer, and M. C. Karsten. 1931. Mesembryanthema. Ashford. Herre, H. 1971. The Genera of the Mesembryanthemaceae. Cape Town. Jacobsen, H. 1976. A Handbook of Succulent Plants.... 3 vols. Poole. Vol. 3. Jacobsen, H. 1977. Lexicon of Succulent Plants..., ed. 2. Poole. Pp. 395-583. Pax, F. A. and K. Hoffmann. 1934. Aizoaceae. In: H. G. A. Engler et al., eds. 1924+. Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien..., ed. 2. 26+ vols. Leipzig and Berlin. Vol. 16c, pp. 179-233, 587. Schwantes, G. 1957. Flowering Stones and Mid-day Flowers. London. Smith, G. F. et al. 1998. Mesembs of the World. Pretoria.

Herbs, shrubs, or subshrubs, annual or perennial, often succulent, papillate, glabrous, hairy, or scaly. Roots usually fibrous, sometimes tuberous. Stems underground, or prostrate and mat-forming to erect. Leaves cauline or basal, alternate or opposite, sessile or petiolate; stipules usually absent, or free from or adnate to petiole; blade flat, terete, or triquetrous (3-angled), occasionally scalelike. Inflorescences axillary or terminal, flowers solitary or in cymes; bracts present or absent; bracteoles usually absent (present in Trianthema, Cypselea); pedicel present or absent. Flowers bisexual (sometimes unisexual in Tetragonia), inconspicuous to showy, tubular or campanulate; hypanthium present; calyx lobes (3-)4-5(-8), sometimes colored and petaloid, occasionally hooded and/or appendaged, equal or unequal; nectary absent, a ring, or separate glands; petals (including petaloid staminodia) 0-250[-300], distinct or connate proximally, often 2-4-seriate, linear; stamens 1-500(-700), distinct or connate in groups; pistil 1, 1-25-carpellate; ovary superior, inferior, or half-inferior, 1-25-loculed; placentation usually parietal, infrequently axile, apical, free-central, or basal; styles absent or 1-25, distinct or partly connate; stigmas 2-25. Fruits usually capsules, dehiscence loculicidal or septicidal, usually with multiple valves, with or without membranes covering seeds, or dehiscence circumscissile, or indehiscent berries, or nutlike. Seeds 1-500(-1000), often arillate, usually papillose; embryo coiled around perisperm.

Plantes herbacées, quelquefois sous-ligneuses à la base, ou sous-arbustes. Feuilles opposées, alternes, ou pseudoverticillées par la présence de feuilles jeunes de rameaux axillaries réduits, stipulées ou non, souvent charnues et réduites. Inflorescences en cymes, rarement fleurs solitaires. Fleurs régulières, hermaphrodites , rarement unisexuées. Périanthe 4-5-mère. Calice de 4-5 pièces, quelquefois persistant. Corolle de 4-5 pièces , libres ou plus ou moins soudées, ou nulle. Étamines 5 ou nombreuses; on trouve souvent les formes de passage entre les étamines et les pétales (1) ; filets subulés; anthères biloculaires, dorsifixes, introrses, déhiscentes par deux fentes longitudinales. Gynécée supère ou infère , formé de 2 à nombreux carpelles le plus souvent unis, rarement libres, 2 à multiloculaires; ovules 2 à très nombreux dans chaque loge, rarement un, anatropes ou campylotropes, en placentation basale, axile ou pariétale; styles le plus souvent courts quelquefois nuls à stigmates très petits au sommet de l'ovaire. Le fruit est soit une capsule drupacée soit indéhiscent . Graines à embryon courbe autour de l'albumen farineux, souvent arillées.

Herbes'ou sous-arbustes.'Feuilles'opposées ou alternes, ou faussement verticillées, souvent ± charnues.'Inflorescences'en cymes ± contractées.'Fleurs'en général ☿, actinomorphes, à périgone en général 5-mère; étamines 5 (rarement moins), ou nombreuses et, dans ce cas, les extérieures souvent stériles et même pétaloïdes (fausse corolle); ovaire supère, parfois infère, à 2-20 carpelles soudés, rarement libres, à placentation axillaire, basale ou pariétale; ovules anatropes ou campylo-tropes, nombreux dans chaque loge ou solitaires.'Fruits': capsules locu-licides ou pyxidiformes, ou indéhiscents, parfois charnus.'Graines à albumen amylacé, entouré par l'embryon, pourvues souvent d'un arille.\n\t\t\tVingt-trois genres (on a proposé la division du seul genre'Mesembryanthemum L. qui a près de 1000 espèces en une centaine de genres), et environ 1200 espèces, surtout sud-africaines, la plupart de régions semi-désertiques, en terrains sableux ou salés. Quelques-unes sont devenues des mauvaises herbes cosmopolites.\n\t\t\tAu Congo belge, 8 genres et 16 espèces, de terrains sableux, parfois du bord des rivières, avec souvent un caractère anthropophile. Plusieurs espèces du grand genre sud-africain'Mesembryanthemum , à feuilles charnues et à grandes fleurs voyantes, sont souvent cultivées comme ornementales.\n\t\t\tLa famille, dont les limites ont beaucoup varié suivant les auteurs, est parmi les plus difficiles à caractériser, intermédiaire, entre les Phytolaccacées, les Portulacacées et les Caryophyllacées.

Annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs, mostly succulent or subsucculent, glabrous or pubescent Leaves simple, opposite, alternate or sometimes crowded, exstipulate, sometimes with small stipuliform lobes at base Inflorescences solitary or in groups, axillary Flower hermaphrodite, regular Fruit capsular, loculicidal or circumscissile Seeds usually subreniform, not strophiolate; embryo usually curved Stamens 5–?, hypogynous, sometimes in pairs or in fascicles, when definite alternate with the perianth segments Ovary superior, of 1–5 united carpels; loculi as many as carpels; ovules 1–? per loculus; placentation parietal, axile or apical Perianth segments 5, united below into a tube or almost free, ± herbaceous, imbricate or valvate, persistent Leaves simple, opposite, alternate or sometimes crowded, exstipulate, sometimes with small stipuliform lobes at base Inflorescences solitary or in groups, axillary Flower hermaphrodite, regular Fruit capsular, loculicidal or circumscissile Seeds usually subreniform, not strophiolate; embryo usually curved Stamens 5–?, hypogynous, sometimes in pairs or in fascicles, when definite alternate with the perianth segments Ovary superior, of 1–5 united carpels; loculi as many as carpels; ovules 1–? per loculus; placentation parietal, axile or apical Perianth segments 5, united below into a tube or almost free, ± herbaceous, imbricate or valvate, persistent

Fls perfect (in ours) or seldom unisexual, perigynous to epigynous; sep commonly 5; pet typically numerous, in 1–6 cycles, mostly linear, or sometimes (including both of our spp.) wanting; stamens 5-merous, sometimes basally connate into groups; gynoecium of 2–5 or more numerous carpels united to form a compound ovary with distinct (or distally distinct) styles, or sometimes apparently reduced to a single carpel; ovary generally with as many locules as carpels; ovules solitary to usually ± numerous in each locule, on axile, basal, apical, or parietal placentas, campylotropous to almost anatropous; fr most commonly a loculicidal capsule, but in ours circumscissile, often ± included in the persistent cal; seeds with an elongate, dicotyledonous, peripheral embryo curved around the abundant perisperm; succulent herbs (ours) or less commonly shrubs, very often with anomalous secondary growth, producing betalains but not anthocyanins; lvs opposite or alternate, simple and generally entire, exstipulate, or sometimes with interpetiolar stipules; fls in rather small cymose infls, or solitary in the axils. 60/2500.

Herbs, annual or perennial, subshrubs, or shrubs, succulent. Stems erect or prostrate. Leaves simple, rarely pinnate, mostly opposite, sometimes alternate, in many species fleshy, margin entire, rarely with teeth; true stipules absent, sometimes a stipule-like sheath present at base of petiole. Inflorescences terminal or seemingly axillary cymes, or solitary flowers. Flowers bisexual, rarely unisexual, actinomorphic, perigynous or epigynous. Nectaries separate or in a ring around ovary. Tepals (4 or)5(–8), connate below into a tube. Petals absent or present. Stamens 3 to many, free or connate at base, outermost often as filamentous staminodes; anthers dehiscing by longitudinal slits. Ovary inferior, syncarpous; carpels 2 to many; ovules 1 to many, on long funicles, mostly campylotropous; placentation axile or parietal, sometimes basal-parietal. Stigmas as many as carpels. Fruit a hygroscopic or circumscissile capsule, more rarely a berry or nut. Seeds with slender embryo curved around perisperm, rarely with an aril; endosperm scanty or absent.

Succulent or subsucculent annual or perennial herbs or subshrubs, less often shrubs Leaves simple, alternate, opposite or verticillate, sometimes crowded, often with an expanded membranous base, exstipulate or with membranous stipules Inflorescences cymose, loosely dichasial to umbelliform or glomerulate (flowers sometimes solitary), axillary or terminal Flowers regular, hermaphrodite, rarely unisexual Calyx of 5, less often 4 or 3, members, polysepalous or gamosepalous, usually herbaceous and persistent Petals absent Staminodes sometimes present, then often petaloid Stamens 5-many, hypogynous or episepalous, sometimes fascicled, when definite alternate with the calyx-lobes Ovary superior or inferior, of 2–5-many united (rarely free) carpels, or of 1 carpel; loculi as many as carpels; ovules one, few, or many per loculus; placentation basal, axile, apical or parietal but not free-central Fruits usually capsular, loculicidal or circumscissile, sometimes indehiscent, rarely mericarpic Seeds usually subreniform, rarely strophiolate; embryo usually curved Leaves simple, alternate, opposite or verticillate, sometimes crowded, often with an expanded membranous base, exstipulate or with membranous stipules Inflorescences cymose, loosely dichasial to umbelliform or glomerulate (flowers sometimes solitary), axillary or terminal Flowers regular, hermaphrodite, rarely unisexual Calyx of 5, less often 4 or 3, members, polysepalous or gamosepalous, usually herbaceous and persistent Petals absent Staminodes sometimes present, then often petaloid Stamens 5-many, hypogynous or episepalous, sometimes fascicled, when definite alternate with the calyx-lobes Ovary superior or inferior, of 2–5-many united (rarely free) carpels, or of 1 carpel; loculi as many as carpels; ovules one, few, or many per loculus; placentation basal, axile, apical or parietal but not free-central Fruits usually capsular, loculicidal or circumscissile, sometimes indehiscent, rarely mericarpic Seeds usually subreniform, rarely strophiolate; embryo usually curved