Dilleniaceae

Abstract

Trees, shrubs, or lianas, rarely subshrubs or rhizomatous herbs; vestiture of sclerified and/or silicified simple and sometimes also fasciculate trichomes; glandular trichomes very rare. Leaves spirally arranged, very rarely opposite; blades petiolate or uncommonly sessile, simple, or rarely threefold pinnatisect to pinnately compound; margins entire or toothed; venation craspedromous, semicraspedromous, brochidodromous, or eucamptodromous, frequently with ± straight, parallel secondaries terminating in the teeth (whenpresent), and rigidly percurrent tertiaries; stipules 0, but the petiole sometimes with persistent or caducous amplexicaul wings, and often with a broad insertion. Plants synoecious, or rarely structurally androdioecious and functionally dioecious. Inflorescences terminal, axillary, orramiflorous, determinate; frequently a thyrsoid with cincinnate or modified dichasial partial inflorescences, a panicle, or monad, sometimes a botryoid or cincinnus; pedicels commonly with apical articulation. Flowers small to very large, actinomorphic or (mainly in the androecium) monosymmetric, hypogynous or very rarelypartly epigynous, without nectar; receptacle flat or infrequently conical; sepals (3)4-5(-18), equal to unequal, typically free, membranaceous to coriaceous, imbricate (quincuncial when 5), always persistent, slightly to substantially accrescent in fruit; petals (2)3-5(-7), free, elliptic to obovate, often emarginate, typically white or yellow, frequently crumpled in bud, imbricate (quincuncial when 5), typically caducous; stamens (1 or 3-)5-400(-900), occasionally partly staminodial, typically marcescent, free or sometimes the filaments basally to nearly fully connate and then typically grouped into 1, 2, 3, or 5 fascicle(s), rarely forming a short tube; anthers basifixed, dithecal and tetrasporangiate, linear to oblong to subglobose, dehiscing via longitudinal slits, apical clefts, or apical pores; connective sometimes thickened, distinctly separating the thecae, and occasionally protruding apically as a short mucro; gynoecium apocarpous to, less frequently, hemisyncarpous, of 1-10(-20)carpels arranged in1 whorl (very rarely 2 whorls); stylodia free; stigmas punctiform, minute, and not differentiated in shape from the stylodia, or the stigmas peltate with an annuliformor, infrequently, irregular margin; ovules 1-80, anatropous to campylotropous, when 1, apotropous, when 1-2, 1 apotropous and 1 epitropous, erect, or when 4 or more, pleurotropous and syntropous, bitegmic, crassinucellate; placentation submarginal, in 2(4, 6) vertical rows, or basal when ovules 1-2. Fruit most frequently a follicle or aggregate of follicles (sometimes basally coherent), or indehiscentand enclosed by the fleshy, accrescent sepals, less often a fleshy capsule, berry, or aggregate of nutlets; aril fleshy to scarious and oily or waxy, funicular, rarely vestigial; seed coat with typically heavily sclerotized or sometimes cutinized endotesta; raphe short; endosperm fleshy, oily or sometimes also starchy, abundant; embryo straight, minute.