The World Flora Online

Arbres , arbustes ou sous-arbustes (très rarement herbes vivaces) à feuilles sans stipules, presque toujours alternes, entières dans les genres congolais, mais souvent très élégamment divisées ou composées, ordinairement coriaces.'Fleurs'en grappes ou épis à bractées petites et caduques, ou en capitules pourvus d'un involucre persistant et coriace (rarement solitaires), hermaphrodites (ou unisexuées par avortement incomplet d'un des sexes), morphologiquement actinomorphes. Périgone pétaloïde, hypogyne, 4-mère, tubuleux dans le bouton, à base souvent élargie autour de l'ovaire, à partie médiane étroite (le tube) et partie supérieure (formée par le limbe des segments) ± renflée autour des étamines; segments ± séparés et enroulés au moment de l'anthèse. Étamines 4, à filet généralement très court, opposées aux segments et insérées sur leur base; anthères introrses. Ovaire supère, 1-carpellaire, sous lequel sont insérées le plus souvent 4 petites écailles; style terminal, souvent très long et stigmate simple, petit; ovules nombreux, géminés ou solitaires (dans les genres congolais), campylotropes ou anatropes. Fruit : capsule, drupe ou akène.'Graines exalbuminées.\n\t\t\tLes Prptéacées sont entomophiles ou ornithophiles et des observations sur leur pollinisation au Congo seraient fort intéressantes.\n\t\t\tFamille typiquement australe, comprenant 50 genres et plus de 1000 espèces, surtout australiennes et sud-africaines, beaucoup moins bien représentée en Amérique du Sud, et dont fort peu dépassent l'Équateur; au Congo belge, 2 genres et 23 espèces caractéristiques des savanes à saison sèche ± marquée, et confinées aux districts méridionaux et orientaux (surtout dans celui du Haut-Katanga : 14 espèces), sauf une, répandue en Uele.\n\t\t\tLa systématique des Protéacées de 1'Afrique tropicale, basée surtout sur les caractères foliaires, est encore très incertaine en raison de la grande variabilité des espèces; son étude exigerait un matériel très abondant et surtout des observations comparatives sur les plantes vivantes.\n\t\t\tRemarquables par la beauté de leurs feuilles et surtout de leurs fleurs, les Protéacées, dont quelques espèces australiennes et sud-africaines sont souvent cultivées en serre froide, mériteraient de l'être davantage, comme ornementales, dans les pays à climat méditerranéen, et il serait intéressant d'essayer, à la Colonie même, la culture de quelques-unes de nos petites espèces du genre'Protea .'Grevillea robusta A. Cunn., grand arbre originaire d'Australie, à belles fleurs jaunes, est souvent planté dans l'Est de la Colonie.

Leaves alternate, rarely opposite, simple or much divided; stipules absent Trees or shrubs Ovary superior, 1-celled; style long, simple; ovule 1 (in our species), subpendulous Hypogynous scales often present Seed without endosperm Fruit a nut, densely bearded, crowned by the persistent style Flowers (in our species) in a bracteate capitulum or elongated spike Stamens 4; anthers opposite the calyx-lobes, subsessile, 2-celled, opening lengthwise Calyx petaloid, tetramerous, valvate, tubular in bud, one segment soon splitting away from the others and releasing the style, three segments remaining united Trees or shrubs Ovary superior, 1-celled; style long, simple; ovule 1 (in our species), subpendulous Hypogynous scales often present Seed without endosperm Fruit a nut, densely bearded, crowned by the persistent style Flowers (in our species) in a bracteate capitulum or elongated spike Stamens 4; anthers opposite the calyx-lobes, subsessile, 2-celled, opening lengthwise Calyx petaloid, tetramerous, valvate, tubular in bud, one segment soon splitting away from the others and releasing the style, three segments remaining united

Trees, shrubs or suffrutices Leaves alternate or rarely opposite or verticillate, usually coriaceous, estipulate, entire to toothed or lobed or pinnate Inflorescence a raceme, spike or head Flowers hermaphrodite or rarely (not in the Flora Zambesiaca area) dioecious, zygomorphic Perianth 4-merous, the segments ± fused into a tube in bud but variously separating in flower, in the native genera differentiated into a swollen base, narrow claw and expanded terminal limb, with the tube splitting before the limb to release a loop of the style while the stigma remains enclosed in the limb Four small hypogynous scales often present on the receptacle between perianth and ovary Stamens 4, fused to the perianth and (in the Flora Zambesiaca area) lying inside the limb, attached opposite the perianth segments, the filaments largely adnate to the perianth segments and the anthers free Fruit a follicle, capsule, drupe or nut Ovary superior, sessile or shortly stalked, often clothed with long hairs, unilocular with ovules variously numerous in 2 series, or 2, or solitary and orthotropous or amphitropous to anatropous; style (in the Flora Zambesiaca area) long, often exceeding the perianth, variously modified distally into a filiform to expanded pollen-presenter Leaves alternate or rarely opposite or verticillate, usually coriaceous, estipulate, entire to toothed or lobed or pinnate Inflorescence a raceme, spike or head Flowers hermaphrodite or rarely (not in the Flora Zambesiaca area) dioecious, zygomorphic Perianth 4-merous, the segments ± fused into a tube in bud but variously separating in flower, in the native genera differentiated into a swollen base, narrow claw and expanded terminal limb, with the tube splitting before the limb to release a loop of the style while the stigma remains enclosed in the limb Four small hypogynous scales often present on the receptacle between perianth and ovary Stamens 4, fused to the perianth and (in the Flora Zambesiaca area) lying inside the limb, attached opposite the perianth segments, the filaments largely adnate to the perianth segments and the anthers free Fruit a follicle, capsule, drupe or nut Ovary superior, sessile or shortly stalked, often clothed with long hairs, unilocular with ovules variously numerous in 2 series, or 2, or solitary and orthotropous or amphitropous to anatropous; style (in the Flora Zambesiaca area) long, often exceeding the perianth, variously modified distally into a filiform to expanded pollen-presenter

Leaves alternate or rarely opposite or verticillate, usually coriaceous, estipulate, entire to toothed or lobed or pinnate Trees, shrubs or suffrutices Four small hypogynous scales often present on the receptacle between perianth and ovary Ovary superior, sessile or shortly stalked, often clothed with long hairs, 1-locular with ovules variously numerous in 2 series, or 2, or solitary and orthotropous or amphitropous to anatropous; style (in Flora area) long, often exceeding the perianth, variously modified distally into a filiform to expanded pollen-presenter Fruit a follicle, capsule, drupe or nut Inflorescence a raceme, spike or head Flowers ? or rarely (not in East Africa) dioecious, zygomorphic Perianth 4-merous, the segments ± fused into a tube in bud but variously separating in flower, in native genera differentiated into a swollen base, narrow claw and expanded terminal limb, with the tube splitting before the limb to release a loop of the style while the stigma remains enclosed in the limb Staments 4, fused to the perianth and (in Flora area) lying inside the limb, attached opposite the perianth-segments, the filaments largely adnate to the perianth-segments and the anthers free Trees, shrubs or suffrutices Four small hypogynous scales often present on the receptacle between perianth and ovary Ovary superior, sessile or shortly stalked, often clothed with long hairs, 1-locular with ovules variously numerous in 2 series, or 2, or solitary and orthotropous or amphitropous to anatropous; style (in Flora area) long, often exceeding the perianth, variously modified distally into a filiform to expanded pollen-presenter Fruit a follicle, capsule, drupe or nut Inflorescence a raceme, spike or head Flowers ? or rarely (not in East Africa) dioecious, zygomorphic Perianth 4-merous, the segments ± fused into a tube in bud but variously separating in flower, in native genera differentiated into a swollen base, narrow claw and expanded terminal limb, with the tube splitting before the limb to release a loop of the style while the stigma remains enclosed in the limb Staments 4, fused to the perianth and (in Flora area) lying inside the limb, attached opposite the perianth-segments, the filaments largely adnate to the perianth-segments and the anthers free

Trees or shrubs. Stipules absent. Leaves alternate, rarely opposite or whorled, simple or variously divided. Inflorescences axillary, ramiflorous, cauliflorous, or terminal, simple or rarely compound, with flowers borne laterally either in pairs or sometimes singly, racemose, sometimes spicate, paniculate, or condensed into a head; bracts subtending flower pairs usually small, sometimes accrescent and woody; floral bracts usually minute or absent. Flowers bisexual or rarely unisexual and dioecious, actinomorphic or zygomorphic. Perianth segments (3 or)4(or 5), valvate, usually tubular in bud; limb short, variously split at anthesis. Stamens 4, opposite perianth segments; filaments usually adnate to perianth and not distinct; anthers basifixed, usually 2-loculed, longitudinally dehiscent, connective often prolonged. Hypogynous glands 4 (or 1-3 or absent), free or variously connate. Ovary superior, 1-loculed, sessile or stipitate; ovules 1 or 2(or more), pendulous, laterally or basally, rarely subapically attached. Style terminal, simple, often apically clavate; stigma terminal or lateral, mostly small. Fruit a follicle, achene, or drupe or drupaceous. Seeds 1 or 2(or few to many), sometimes winged; endosperm absent (or vestigial); embryo usually straight; cotyledons thin or thick and fleshy; radicle short, inferior.