The World Flora Online

Plantes dioïques , à port arborescent (Pandanus, Sararanga Hemsl.), buissonnant (Pandanus), ou lianescent (Freycinetia Gaudich.). Tiges ligneuses, garnies de cicatrices foliaires annulaires ( Pl. 2 , fig. 3 ). Racines adventives surtout à la base du tronc, jouant le rôle de racines-échasses ( Pl. 3 ); parfois sur des branches aussi; parfois absentes; rôle de racines-crampons chez les lianes. Feuilles simples, denticulées aux marges et sous la nervure médiane, arrangées en spirale sur 3 rangs (Pandanus, Freycinetia) ou 4 rangs (Sararanga); plis latéraux doubles, convexes à la face ventrale (adaxiale) conférant ainsi la forme d'un M aux coupes transversales du limbe, denticulés à la face ventrale sous la queue ou inermes. Épis femelles formés d'un grand nombre d'ovaires à carpelles uniovulés ou pluriovulés, soit libres et uniques, soit soudés les uns aux autres en phalanges; style(s) absente(s) ou très court(s), parfois allongé(s) en épine(s) (certaines espèces de Pandanus malgaches ou asiatiques). Inflorescence mâle en panicule (Sararanga) ou en épi(s). Fleurs mâles formées d'étamines libres (Freycinetia, certaines espèces de Pandanus extra-africaines) ou associées de diverses manières en colonnes staminifères qui sont autant de fleurs mâles ( HUYNH Beitr. Biol. Pflanzen 57 1982 50 Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 87 1983 181 & 189 ). Pollen échinulé (la plupart des espèces de Pandanus, dont celles d'Afrique continentale) ou lisse (Freycinetia, Sararanga, certaines espèces de Pandanus). Fruits : drupes (Pandanus, Sararanga), ou baies (Freycinetia).

Male flower: stamens numerous; filaments free or connate; anthers erect, basifixed, 2-celled, the cells sometimes again once divided Perianth rudimentary or absent Syncarps oblong to globose; mature carpels woody, drupaceous or baccate, pulpy inside Ovules solitary to many, basal or parietal Ovary superior, 1-celled, free or confluent with adjacent ovaries into bundles with separate or united stigmas; style very short or absent Female flower: staminodes absent or small and hypogynous or adnate to the base of the ovary Flowers dioecious, paniculate or densely crowded into spadices, the latter axillary and terminal, fasciculate or paniculate, enclosed at first by spathaceous sometimes coloured or leafy bracts Seeds minute, with fleshy endosperm and minute embryo Leaves in 4 rows or spirally arranged and crowded towards the top of the shoots, linear, sheathing at the base, keeled, mostly spinulose on the margins and keel Trees or shrubs, trunk and branches often with aerial roots Perianth rudimentary or absent Syncarps oblong to globose; mature carpels woody, drupaceous or baccate, pulpy inside Ovules solitary to many, basal or parietal Ovary superior, 1-celled, free or confluent with adjacent ovaries into bundles with separate or united stigmas; style very short or absent Female flower: staminodes absent or small and hypogynous or adnate to the base of the ovary Flowers dioecious, paniculate or densely crowded into spadices, the latter axillary and terminal, fasciculate or paniculate, enclosed at first by spathaceous sometimes coloured or leafy bracts Seeds minute, with fleshy endosperm and minute embryo Leaves in 4 rows or spirally arranged and crowded towards the top of the shoots, linear, sheathing at the base, keeled, mostly spinulose on the margins and keel Trees or shrubs, trunk and branches often with aerial roots

Trees, shrubs, or woody lianas, terrestrial, evergreen, dioecious. Stems simple or often bifurcately branched, ringed with persistent annular leaf scars, often producing adventitious prop roots; aerial roots present or absent. Vegetative reproduction by suckers present or absent. Leaves simple, numerous, spirally arranged at apex of stems and branches, sessile, linear to lanceolate, leathery, often lustrous or glaucous, glabrous, keeled abaxially, parallel veined, with numerous horizontal secondary veins, base open-sheathed and amplexicaul, margin and midrib abaxially often spinulose, apex often long acuminate. Male inflorescences axillary and terminal, compound, bracteate, comprising several-branched racemes or panicles with crowded flowers on spicate ultimate branches; spathes often enlarged at apex, white or colored. Perianth absent. Male flowers sessile (pedicellate in Sararanga Hemsley), with pistillode sometimes present; stamens numerous, fasciculate, arising on rachises or spadix branches; filaments smooth (Pandanus) or papillose (Freycinetia), seemingly branched; anthers basifixed, 2-celled with 4 pollen sacs, dehiscing by longitudinal slits, connective often apiculate; pollen grains often spinulose. Female inflorescences terminal, solitary or in spikes, racemes, or capitula, short, bracteate, with crowded flowers, often pendulous in fruit. Female flowers with or without staminodes; pistils free or aggregated and appressed to adjacent pistils forming 1- to many-carpelled phalanges or clusters; ovary superior, 1- to several locular; ovules solitary to numerous, anatropous, placentation basal or parietal; style absent or very short; stigmas 1 or more, subsessile, glandular-papillose. Fruit a berry (Freycinetia) or drupe (Pandanus), when drupaceous a multiple structure (syncarp) composed of 2-20 woody, or basally fleshy or fibrous, cylindric to globose, connate, free or often crowded and clustered carpels, each cluster of carpels termed a "phalange," with mesocarp fibrous and often pithy or hollow above, fibrous and fleshy below; endocarp membranous or evanescent. Seeds 1 to numerous, minute, often fusiform; testa membranous (Pandanus) or crustose (Freycinetia); endosperm oily and fleshy, or starchy; strophiole originating from raphe sometimes present; embryo basal, minute; germination often epigeal.

Male flowers: perianth absent or vestigial; stamens few-numerous, in corymbs or umbels; filaments free or connate; anthers erect, basifixed, 2-thecous, opening lengthwise by slits; ovary vestigial or absent Seeds free (>i>Freycinetia, Sararanga) or inseparable from the endocarp (>i>Pandanus); testa membranous and delicate; endosperm white, homogeneous; embryo sub-basal Female flowers with 1-several ovaries, lacking perianth parts, sometimes with staminodia; ovary 1-locular, free or confluent with adjacent ovaries into bundles, but always with separate stigmas corresponding with the number of locules; style absent or vestigial; stigma appressed or erect, lined with glandular hairs hardening at maturity, various in form but often rounded-cordate, V- or U-shaped, horseshoe-shaped or kidney-shaped, with a basal groove corresponding in position to the location of the placenta, i.e. directly above it; staminodes, if present, hypogynous and ± adnate to the ovary (or compound ovary) wall; ovules anatropous, solitary (in >i>Pandanus) or many (in >i>Freycinetia), parietal Cephalia (fruiting heads) globose to oblong, solitary or in a spike, composed of ripened fruits—either drupes or clusters of partly fused drupes (phalanges) in >i>Pandanus, or berries (in >i>Freycinetia); pericarp thin, coriaceous to fleshy or firm; mesocarp fibrous, with spongy pith, fleshy (in >i>Pandanus) or gelatinous-fleshy (in >i>Freycinetia); endocarp fibrous and bony (in >i>Pandanus) to thin and lignified (>i>Sararanga) to membranous (>i>Freycinetia), enclosing the locule(s) in an integral structure; all or only some — but at least the interior ones—locules fertile Trees or shrubs, less often lianas or epiphytic shrubs, often with stilt-roots or aerial roots from the lower trunk, and sometimes from the branches; branches woody, with annular leaf-scars Leaves spirally arranged in 3 or 2 rows (the latter appearing as 4 rows), crowded towards the apices of the branches, simple, lanceolate or linear, sheathing at the base, coriaceous, keeled and often 3-plicate, usually with small prickles on the midrib beneath, on the margins, and sometimes on the distal ventral pleats as well Flowers unisexual, crowded in branched or unbranched spadices (panicles in Sararanga); inflorescences terminal or terminating lateral shoots, enclosed at first by spathaceous and often coloured bracts Seeds free (>i>Freycinetia, Sararanga) or inseparable from the endocarp (>i>Pandanus); testa membranous and delicate; endosperm white, homogeneous; embryo sub-basal Female flowers with 1-several ovaries, lacking perianth parts, sometimes with staminodia; ovary 1-locular, free or confluent with adjacent ovaries into bundles, but always with separate stigmas corresponding with the number of locules; style absent or vestigial; stigma appressed or erect, lined with glandular hairs hardening at maturity, various in form but often rounded-cordate, V- or U-shaped, horseshoe-shaped or kidney-shaped, with a basal groove corresponding in position to the location of the placenta, i.e. directly above it; staminodes, if present, hypogynous and ± adnate to the ovary (or compound ovary) wall; ovules anatropous, solitary (in >i>Pandanus) or many (in >i>Freycinetia), parietal Cephalia (fruiting heads) globose to oblong, solitary or in a spike, composed of ripened fruits—either drupes or clusters of partly fused drupes (phalanges) in >i>Pandanus, or berries (in >i>Freycinetia); pericarp thin, coriaceous to fleshy or firm; mesocarp fibrous, with spongy pith, fleshy (in >i>Pandanus) or gelatinous-fleshy (in >i>Freycinetia); endocarp fibrous and bony (in >i>Pandanus) to thin and lignified (>i>Sararanga) to membranous (>i>Freycinetia), enclosing the locule(s) in an integral structure; all or only some — but at least the interior ones—locules fertile Trees or shrubs, less often lianas or epiphytic shrubs, often with stilt-roots or aerial roots from the lower trunk, and sometimes from the branches; branches woody, with annular leaf-scars Leaves spirally arranged in 3 or 2 rows (the latter appearing as 4 rows), crowded towards the apices of the branches, simple, lanceolate or linear, sheathing at the base, coriaceous, keeled and often 3-plicate, usually with small prickles on the midrib beneath, on the margins, and sometimes on the distal ventral pleats as well Flowers unisexual, crowded in branched or unbranched spadices (panicles in Sararanga); inflorescences terminal or terminating lateral shoots, enclosed at first by spathaceous and often coloured bracts