Elaeagnaceae

Abstract

Anemophilous or entomophilous small trees, shrubs or rarely woody climbers; shoots often reduced to spines; young branches, leaves, and calyx tube covered with peltate and stellate trichomes; nodules on the roots containing nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Leaves alternate, opposite, or rarely in pseudowhorls, simple, petiolate, without stipules; lamina entire, pinnately veined. Inflorescences axillary, short, fasciculate, spicate or racemose, or rarely flowers solitary. Flowers actinomorphic, apetalous, often fragrant, perfect, or plants monoecious, dioecious, or rarely polygamous, the female flowers without staminodes, the male without pistil; sepals 2 or 4(−6), joined into a hypanthium; hypanthium free, constricted above the gynoecium, white, cream, or yellow; receptacle tubular (bisexual and female flowers) or mostly flat (male flowers); stamens in one (rarely two) whorl(s), (2−)4 or 8(−12), adnate to hypanthium, equal in length, all fertile, alternisepalous and/or oppositisepalous, erect in bud; filaments free, very short; anthers dorsifixed or basifixed, non-versatile, longitudinally dehiscing; gynoecium one-carpellate (probably pseudomonomerous; Takhtajan 1997); ovary superior, 1-celled and 1-ovulate; style elongate; stigma dry, non-papillate; ovule with a short and broad funicle, anatropous, bitegmic, crassinucellate; placentation basal. Fruit drupe- or berry-like with thin, membranous peri-carp, enclosed by the persistent calyx tube, which becomes fleshy. Seed solitary; testa hard; embryo straight and achlorophyllous; endosperm scanty or absent; cotyledons fleshy, plano-convex. Germination phanerocotylar.