Muntingiaceae
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| Muntingiaceae | ||||||||||||
| C.Bayer , MWChase & MFFay |
The Muntingiaceae are a small family of plants in the order of the Mallow-like (Malvales). The eponymous genus Muntingia honors the Dutch botanist Abraham Munting (1626–1683). This family today contains three monotypical genera with only three species. It is a purely neotropical family.
description
They are small to medium-sized trees or shrubs . The whole plant is hairy. The alternate and two lines arranged leaves are stalked and simple. The leaf margin is sawn. Stipules are present.
The flowers are usually solitary, in Muntingia sometimes too few together. The hermaphroditic, radial symmetry flowers are usually five (four to seven) numbered. There is a ring-shaped discus or nectaries . The mostly five (four to seven) sepals are fused. The usually five (four to seven) free, nailed petals are white, pink or yellow and have irregular edges. There are (rarely eleven to) mostly 15 to 100 fertile stamens ; they are free or grouped in bundles. An androphore can be formed. Five or six to seven carpels have become an ovary grown. Each ovary compartment contains 25 to 50 ovules . The stylus ends in a simple or five to siebenlappigen scar . Pollination takes place by insects ( entomophilia ) from the order of the hymenoptera (Hymenoptera).
They form fleshy berries that contain 25 to many thousands of seeds wrapped in pulp.
Systematics and distribution
The genera were previously incorporated in the subfamily Neotessmannioideae in the Tiliaceae.
The family occurs naturally only in the Neotropic . This family contains three monotypical genera , so only three species:
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Dicraspidia
Standl. : With the only kind:
- Dicraspidia donnell-smithii Standl. : Ovary semi-subordinate. The area extends from Honduras to Colombia.
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Muntingia L .: With the only species:
- Muntingia calabura L. , sometimes also called Jamaican cherry like some other plant species: ovary above. This species is widespread in Latin America . In many tropical and sub-tropical countries it is a neophyte . It sometimes appears as a pioneer plant after deforestation.
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Neotessmannia Burret : With the only species:
- Neotessmannia uniflora Burret : ovary below . It is only known from eastern Peru.
use
The fruits of Muntingia calabura are edible; it is used as an ornamental plant in the tropics around the world .
photos
Flower and fruit
Unripe and ripe fruits
Branch with flower and leaves
swell
- Description of the family of muntingiaceae in APWebsite (Engl.)
- Description of the Muntingiaceae family at DELTA. (engl.)
- C. Bayer: Muntingiaceae in Klaus Kubitzki: The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants , Volume V. Flowering Plants, Dicotyledons, Malvales, Capparales and Non-betalain Caryophyllales , Springer Verlag, Berlin, 2002, pp. 315-319.
Web links
- Entry at GRIN.
- J. Morton: Jamaica Cherry , 1987, p. 65–69: Information on Muntingia calabura - Online.