The World Flora Online

Herbs , perennial, rhizomatous, aromatic, glabrous to pubescent, in wet places. Stems simple or branched; vascular strands in 1(-2) ring(s). Leaves basal and/or cauline, alternate, simple; stipules present, adnate to petioles; petioles usually present. Leaf blade: margins entire. Inflorescences terminal, compact, conic spikes or lax, spikelike racemes terminal and/or opposite leaves. Flowers bisexual; perianth absent, each flower subtended by nonpeltate bract; stamens (3-)6(-8), hypogynous or epigynous; anther 2-locular; pistil 1, 3-5(-7)-carpellate; ovary 1- or 3-5(-7)-locular; placentation parietal or marginal; ovules 2 or 18-40; styles and stigmas distinct. Fruits capsules or schizocarps. Seeds 1 or many (-40); endosperm scanty; perisperm abundant; embryo minute.

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Herbs perennial, aromatic. Stems erect, ascending, or prostrate, obviously jointed. Leaves alternate, simple; stipules interpetiolately connate or adnate to petiole, forming a sheath. Inflorescence a dense spike or raceme, sometimes resembling a single flower when large involucral petaloid bracts are present at base; bracts evident or inconspicuous. Flowers bisexual; perianth absent. Stamens usually 3, 6, or 8, free or adnate to ovary base; anthers 2-loculed, longitudinally dehiscent. Pistils (2 or)3- or 4-carpelled; carpels distinct or connate, if distinct: each carpel with 2-4 ovules, if connate: ovary 1-loculed, placentation parietal, each placenta with 6-13 ovules; styles free. Fruit a schizocarp or apically dehiscent capsule. Seed 1 or many; endosperm scanty; perisperm abundant; embryo minute.

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Fls perfect, hypogynous, without perianth; stamens 6 or 8 in 2 whorls, or 3 in a single whorl; pollen monosulcate; carpels 3–5, these conduplicate and distinct above the connate base in Saururus, united into a unilocular compound ovary with parietal placentation in the other genera; ovules orthotropous, (1)2–4 and laminal-lateral in Saururus, 6–10 on each placenta in the other genera; seeds with small, dicotyledonous embryo, scanty endosperm, and abundant, starchy perisperm; aromatic perennial herbs with small fls in dense, bracteate spikes or racemes. 5/7.

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SELECTED REFERENCES

Engler, H. G. A. 1888. Saururaceae. In: H. G. A. Engler and K. Prantl, eds. 1887-1915. Die natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien.... 254 fasc. Leipzig. Fasc. 14[III,1], pp. 1-3. Raju, M. V. S. 1961. Morphology and anatomy of the Saururaceae. I. Floral anatomy and embryology. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 48: 107-124. Wood, C. E. Jr. 1971b. The Saururaceae in the southeastern United States. J. Arnold Arbor. 52: 479-485.

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