刺果树属 ci guo shu shu

Authors: Bingtao Li & Michael G. Gilbert

Regnaldia Baillon.

Trees or shrubs, dioecious; indumentum of simple hairs. Leaves alternate; stipules small, deciduous; petiole without glands; leaf blade entire; venation pinnate. Inflorescences axillary, small, bracteate glomerules; pedicels short, jointed in middle. Male flowers: sepals 4 or 5, imbricate; petals absent; disk glands small, alternating with sepals; stamens 5-15; filaments basally connate, apically free, hirsute at base; anthers 2-locular, dehiscing longitudinally; rudimentary ovary prominent, 3-fid, hirsute. Female flowers: sepals 4-8, imbricate; petals absent; disk urceolate, margins undulate or divided; ovary 3-locular; ovules 1 per locule; styles 3, free, bipartite; stigmas densely papillose or fimbriate. Fruit a capsule, densely spinescent-bristly or tuberculate; endocarp bony. Seeds smooth, blackish, arillate, carunculate; endosperm copious; endosperm fleshy; cotyledon broader and longer than radicle.

About 12 species: disjunct distribution in W Africa, tropical Asia, Madagascar, South America, and West Indies; one species in China.