| Type | Indigenous |
|---|---|
| Family | Euphorbiaceae |
| Habit | Small sized tree |
| Botanical Features | Shrubs or small trees;young parts silkily hairy. Leaves : alternate, up to 15 x 5 cm, elliptic-oblong or lanceolate sinuate-lobed; nerves 10-12 pairs, slender, arched; base narrowed into the short stout channelled petiole which is often 2-glandular at the top. Racemes : with a stout rachis, bracts subulate, lower 2 mm long and more. Flowers: monoecious, red, males clustered shortly pedicelled, females solitary longer pedicelled. Calyx : 5 imbricate lobes. Petals : 5, sometimes 0 in female. Disk of 5 glands, often united in a lobed cup. Stamens :3 or 5, connate in a short column with free spreading tips; anthers :erect or horizontal, the cells united by their bases. Ovary :3-celled, hispid; ovule :1 in each cell; styles very short and broad, bifid or twice bifid, rarely entire. Fruit : a capsule of 3-2 valved cocci; seeds :ovoid or globose; mottled; albumen fleshy; cotyledons broad, flat. |