Anisophylleaceae (Schimp.) Ridl.
Including Polygonanthaceae (Croiz.) Croiz.
Habit and leaf form. Trees and shrubs (of wet primary forest). Helophytic. Heterophyllous (anisophyllous, ‘or with reduced stipular homologues’), or not heterophyllous (Combretocarpus). Leaves alternate; spiral, or distichous, or four-ranked (Anisophyllea); simple. Lamina entire; palmately veined (3–5 plinerved). Leaves exstipulate.
Leaf anatomy. Lamina dorsiventral to centric.
Stem anatomy. Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring. Vessel end-walls simple. Wood parenchyma apotracheal to paratracheal.
Reproductive type, pollination. Plants monoecious (mostly), or hermaphrodite (Combretocarpus); viviparous, or not viviparous.
Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’, or solitary (rarely); when solitary, axillary; when aggregated, in racemes and in panicles. The terminal inflorescence unit when flowers aggregated cymose, or racemose. Inflorescences axillary; axillary racemes or panicles on leafless shoots. Flowers regular; (2–)3 merous, or 4(–5) merous.
Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 6–10(–32); 2 whorled; isomerous. Calyx (3–)4(–16); 1 whorled; polysepalous; persistent; valvate. Corolla (3–)4(–16); 1 whorled; polypetalous; valvate. Petals clawed; lobed or laciniate, except in Polygonanthus.
Androecium 8. Androecial members free of one another; 2 whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens, or including staminodes (sometimes with several stamens barren). Stamens 8; diplostemonous; inflexed in bud. Anthers dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse; tetrasporangiate. Pollen shed in aggregates, or shed as single grains (?); at least sometimes in tetrads. Pollen grains aperturate; 3 aperturate; colporate (to colporoidate).
Gynoecium (3–)4 carpelled. The pistil (3–)4 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synovarious; inferior. Ovary (3–)4 locular. Epigynous disk present (crenate). Gynoecium stylate. Styles (3–)4; free. Stigmas (3–)4. Placentation apical. Ovules 1 per locule, or 2 per locule; pendulous; arillate, or non-arillate; anatropous.
Fruit fleshy, or non-fleshy; dehiscent, or indehiscent; a capsule and a samara (Combretocarpus), or a drupe; usually 1 seeded (usually), or 3–4 seeded (Poga). Seeds non-endospermic; winged, or wingless. Cotyledons reduced, 0, or 2.
Seedling. Germination cryptocotylar.
Physiology, biochemistry. Saponins/sapogenins absent. Aluminium accumulation demonstrated (very commonly).
Geography, cytology. Tropical. Tropical, widespread.
Taxonomy. Subclass Dicotyledonae; Crassinucelli (? — polypetalous, exstipulate, but no embryology). Dahlgren’s Superorder Corniflorae; Cornales (?). Cronquist’s Subclass Rosidae; Rosales. APG (1998) Eudicot; core Eudicot; Rosid; Eurosid I; Cucurbitales. Species 36. Genera 4; Anisophyllea, Combretocarpus, Poga, Polygonanthus.
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).