KAMAL AKHTER MALIK

Trees with milky juice. Leaves coriaceous, lateral nerves 15-20 (-30) pairs, parallel. Inflorescence axillary, solitary or clustered. Calyx 6-8-lobed, lobes in 2 series, outer valvate, inner imbricate. Corolla tube short, 18-24-lobed, 2-3- seriate. Stamens 8, opposite, inserted at the base of corolla and opposite the interior lobes, filaments short, anthers lanceolate, cells divergent at the base; staminodes as many as the stamens and alternating with them, variously toothed or entire, hairy. Ovary hirsute, 6-8-celled; style slightly longer than corolla. Fruit ovoid, seeds solitary, compressed, ellipsoid.

A genus with c. 57 species, distributed in tropical Africa, Malaysia to the Pacific. In Pakistan it is represented by the following cultivated species:

Lower Taxon

• Mimusops elengi L.