Coleonema Bartl. & H.L.Wendl.

Scientific Description

Family Rutaceae.

Habit and leaf form. Shrubs (erect, usually single-stemmed at base); evergreen, or deciduous; bearing essential oils. Mesophytic, or xerophytic. Leaves alternate; leathery, or ‘herbaceous’; petiolate; non-sheathing; gland-dotted; aromatic; simple. Leaf blades dissected, or entire; linear, or ovate; when simple/dissected pinnatifid, or much-divided; pinnately veined, or one-veined. Leaves without stipules, or with stipules. Stipules when present, intrapetiolar; represented by glands. Leaf blade margins entire, or crenate, or serrate, or dentate. 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 (may be crowded on short branchlets and appear spike-like); terminal, or axillary; pedicellate; bracteate; small to medium-sized; fragrant; regular, or somewhat irregular. The floral asymmetry when noticeable, involving the perianth and involving the androecium (not K). Flowers 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; of separate members. Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 10; 2 -whorled; isomerous. Calyx 5; 1 -whorled; gamosepalous; lobed; glabrous, or hairy; imbricate; regular; with the median member posterior. Calyx lobes ovate, or oblong, or elliptic, or triangular. Corolla 5; 1 -whorled; polypetalous, or gamopetalous; imbricate; regular, or unequal but not bilabiate; white, or pink. Androecium 10. Androecial members unbranched, or branched (? by the splitting of simple primordia); free of the perianth, or adnate (staminodes usually connate with the petal claw); all equal, or markedly unequal; free of one another, or coherent (? the filaments usually more or less basally connate); 1 - adelphous, or 3–12 - adelphous; 1 -whorled, or 2 -whorled. Androecium including staminodes. Staminodes 5 (fusiform, apex gland-tipped, glabrous). Stamens 5; isomerous with the perianth; alternisepalous, or oppositisepalous (? when the outer whorl lost); filantherous. Filaments glabrous. Anthers dorsifixed, or basifixed (? more or less); versatile; dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse, or latrorse; tetrasporangiate. Gynoecium 5 carpelled. The pistil when syncarpous, 5 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synovarious, or synstylovarious, or eu-syncarpous; superior. Ovary plurilocular; when syncarpous, 5 locular. Styles 1, or 3–5; free, or partially joined; apical; persistent; hairless. Stigmas 5 - lobed; capitate (and depressed-globose); wet type, or dry type; papillate, or non-papillate; Group II type, or Group IV type. Placentation when syncarpous, axile. Ovules 1–5(–50) per locule; pendulous to ascending; epitropous; when two or more per cell, collateral, or superposed, or biseriate; arillate, or non-arillate; anatropous, or hemianatropous.

Fruit and seed features. Fruit 4.5–7 mm long; fleshy, or non-fleshy; green, or red, or purple; a schizocarp. Mericarps 5; glabrous, horn short or absent, spreading or erect. Fruit 5 celled. Seeds endospermic, or non-endospermic. Embryo well differentiated. Cotyledons 2. Embryo chlorophyllous, or achlorophyllous; straight, or curved, or bent. Seedling. Germination phanerocotylar, or cryptocotylar.

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

Geography, cytology, number of species. A genus of 8 species.