Systematic Treatment
Flora Mesoamericana, Volme 2 (1), Opiliaceae, page 1 of 7 First published on the Flora Mesoamericana Website, 19 Dec. 2011. 70. OPILIACEAE Descripción de la familia por P. Hiepko. Trees or shrubs (rarely vine-like), root-parasites. Leaves without stipules, petiolate, distichous, simple; blades often coriaceous, in dried state mostly finely tubercled by cystoliths located in the mesophyll, usually extremely variable in form and size, entire, mostly glabrous, venation pinnate. Inflorescences axillary, racemose (Mesoamérica); bracts very small, often scale-like, caducous. Flowers pedicellate, actinomorphic, 4-5-merous, unisexual and plants dioecious (Mesoamérica). Perianth with valvate, free tepals. Stamens as many as and opposite to the tepals (in female flowers wanting), anthers introrse, 2-celled, longitudinally dehiscent. Disc intrastaminal, lobed (lobes alternating with the stamens), or annular. Pistil 1; ovary superior, 1- celled, stigma sessile, entire or shallowly lobed; ovule 1, pendulous from the apex of a central placenta, anatropous and unitegmic, sometimes integument not differentiated (Agonandra). Fruit drupaceous, pericarp rather thin, mesocarp fleshy-juicy, endocarp woody or crustaceous. Seed large, conform to the drupe, embryo terete, embedded in rich, oily endosperm, nearly as long as the seed, with 3-4 linear cotyledons, radicle often very small. 10 gen., 33 spp. Trópicos del Viejo y del Nuevo (1 gen., 10 spp.) Mundo. Bibliografía: Hiepko, P. Fl. Neotrop. (in prep.). Sleumer, H. en Engler, A. & Prantl, K. Nat. Pflanzenfam. ed. 2, 16b: 33-41 (1935). Standley, P.C. J. Washington Acad. Sci. 10: 505-508 (1920); Trees & shrubs Mexico, Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 23(2): 235-236 (1922). Nevling, L.I., Jr.
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