Murraya L.

Scientific Description

Family Rutaceae.

Habit and leaf form. Trees, or shrubs; evergreen, or deciduous (M. alternans); bearing essential oils. Plants unarmed. Mesophytic, or xerophytic. Leaves alternate; leathery, or membranous; petiolate; non-sheathing; gland-dotted; aromatic; compound; unifoliolate, or pinnate; imparipinnate. Leaflets 3–31. Lateral leaflets alternate (or subopposite). Leaflets ovate, or oblong, or obovate, or orbicular, or triangular. Leaf blades pinnately veined, or one-veined; cross-venulate, or without cross-venules. Leaves without stipules, or with stipules. Stipules when present, intrapetiolar; represented by glands. Leaf blade margins entire, or crenate, or serrate. Leaves without a persistent basal meristem. Leaf anatomy. Hairs present, or absent. Stem anatomy. Nodes unilacunar, or tri-lacunar. Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers hermaphrodite. Unisexual flowers absent. Plants hermaphrodite. Entomophilous.

Inflorescence and flower features. Flowers solitary, or aggregated in ‘inflorescences’. Inflorescence few-flowered, or many-flowered. Flowers in cymes, or in corymbs, or in panicles. The terminal inflorescence unit cymose, or racemose. Inflorescences terminal, or axillary. Flowers pedicellate; bracteate; small to large; fragrant; regular, or somewhat irregular. The floral asymmetry when noticeable, involving the perianth and involving the androecium (not K). Flowers 4–5 merous; cyclic. Floral receptacle developing a gynophore (associated with the disk), or with neither androphore nor gynophore. Free hypanthium absent. Hypogynous disk present; intrastaminal; annular (sometimes one-sided), or of separate members. Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 8, or 10; 2 -whorled; isomerous. Calyx 4–5; 1 -whorled; gamosepalous; lobed; hairy; imbricate; cupuliform; regular; persistent; with the median member posterior. Calyx lobes ovate, or triangular. Corolla 4–5; 1 -whorled; polypetalous; imbricate, or valvate; regular, or unequal but not bilabiate; white. Petals linear, or ovate, or obovate, or oblong. Androecium 8–10. Androecial members free of the perianth; markedly unequal (alternately short); free of one another; 1 -whorled, or 2 -whorled. Stamens 8–10; diplostemonous; alternisepalous; filantherous. Filaments glabrous, or hairy. Anthers dorsifixed, or basifixed (? more or less); versatile; dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse, or latrorse; tetrasporangiate. Gynoecium 2–5 carpelled. The pistil 2–5 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synovarious, or synstylovarious, or eu-syncarpous; superior, or partly inferior, or inferior. Ovary plurilocular; 2–5 locular; stipitate. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 1, or 3–5; free, or partially joined; apical; usually much longer than the ovary at anthesis; deciduous. Stigmas wet type, or dry type; papillate, or non-papillate; Group II type, or Group IV type. Placentation axile. Ovules (1–)2 per locule; pendulous to ascending; epitropous; collateral, or superposed; arillate, or non-arillate; anatropous, or hemianatropous.

Fruit and seed features. Fruit 6–13 mm long; fleshy; orange, or red, or black; indehiscent; a berry; 1–2(–10) seeded (i.e. to ‘several’). Seeds endospermic, or non-endospermic; medium sized; conspicuously hairy, or not conspicuously hairy. Embryo well differentiated. Cotyledons 2. Embryo chlorophyllous, or achlorophyllous; straight. Seedling. Germination phanerocotylar, or cryptocotylar.

Physiology, biochemistry. Aluminium accumulation not found. Photosynthetic pathway: C₃.

Geography, cytology, number of species. A genus of 4 species.