藤枣属 teng zao shu

Vines. Petiole on disciform branchlet cicatrices, apex swollen and geniculate; leaf blade subpeltate, pinnately veined. Male inflorescences axillary or on old leafless stems, fasciculate, few flowered. Male flowers: sepals 12 in 4 whorls, free, imbricate, innermost whorl largest; petals 6; stamens 6, free, columnar, anthers minute, as wide as filament, introrse, dehiscing transversely. Infructescences thickly pedunculate. Female flowers: sepals and petals unknown; carpels 6 on thick gynophore, strong, radially arranged. Drupes with base abruptly narrowed into a stipe, style scar distant from base; endocarp thinly woody; condyle inconspicuous. Seed ellipsoidal; endosperm absent or very thin; cotyledons large and thick.

One species: SW China, NE India.

Lower Taxon

• Eleutharrhena macrocarpa (Diels) Forman