Aitoniaceae Harv. & Sond.
~ Meliaceae
Habit and leaf form. Small trees, or shrubs (much branched, rigid, the twigs angular, puberulous). Leaves alternate; subsessile; non-sheathing; simple. Lamina entire; one-veined (linear-oblong). Leaves exstipulate.
Leaf anatomy. Stomata present; anomocytic.
Lamina dorsiventral.
Stem anatomy. Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring. Xylem with fibre tracheids.
Reproductive type, pollination. Plants hermaphrodite.
Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers solitary; axillary; somewhat irregular; 4 merous. Hypogynous disk present; annular (cupular, fleshy, crenate).
Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 8; 2 whorled; isomerous. Calyx 4; 1 whorled; shortly gamosepalous. Calyx lobes markedly longer than the tube. Degree of gamosepaly (maximum length joined/total calyx length) 0.2 (or less). Calyx slightly imbricate. Corolla 4; 1 whorled; polypetalous (the petals large); imbricate; purple.
Androecium 8. Androecial members coherent; 1 adelphous (filaments shortly connate); 1 whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 8; diplostemonous; both alternating with and opposite the corolla members. Anthers introrse.
Gynoecium 4 carpelled. The pistil 4 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; eu-syncarpous; superior. Ovary 4 locular. Styles 1 (filiform). Stigmas 1; punctiform. Placentation axile. Ovules 2 per locule; amphitropous.
Fruit non-fleshy; dehiscent; a capsule. Capsules loculicidal. Dispersal unit the seed. Seeds non-endospermic. Embryo curved.
Physiology, biochemistry. Sugars transported as sugar alcohols + oligosaccharides + sucrose.
Geography, cytology. South Africa.
Taxonomy. Subclass Dicotyledonae; Crassinucelli. Dahlgrens Superorder Rutiflorae; Sapindales. Cronquists Subclass Rosidae; Sapindales. APG (1998) Eudicot; core Eudicot; Rosid; Eurosid II; Sapindales (as a synonym of Meliaceae). Species 1. Genera 1; only genus, Nymania (Aitonia).
Convincingly referred to Meliaceae - Turraeeae by Pennington and Styles 1975.
Cite this publication as: ‘L. Watson and M. J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The Families of Flowering Plants: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. Version: 14th December 2000. http://biodiversity.uno.edu/delta/’. Dallwitz (1980), Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993, 1995, 2000), and Watson and Dallwitz (1991) should also be cited (see References).