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Chenopodiaceae
Brenan, J.P.M. (1988) Chenopodiaceae Flora Zambesiaca 9(1)
Townsend, C.C. (1988) Amaranthaceae Flora Zambesiaca 9(1)
Annual or perennial herbs, sometimes woody at the base or, rarely, small shrubs (Psilotrichum scleranthum). Stipules 0. Leaves simple, alternate or opposite. Inflorescence various, bracteate; bracts hyaline to membranous, straw-coloured to white, subtending one or more flowers. Flowers bisexual or unisexual, mostly actinomorphic with 2 bracteoles, frequently in ultimate small 3-flowered cymes, the lateral flowers often sterile and modified into scales, spines, hooks or hairs. Tepals often green or white or variously coloured, usually 5, arranged in 1 whorl, membranous to firm, finally hardening and often falling with the ripe fruit. Ovary superior, 1-locular. Fruit a capsule, rarely a berry. Comment: Amaranthaceae is a family which lacks the usual differentiation into sepals and petals, possessing instead 1 whorl of variously coloured tepals and each flower usually subtended by 1 bract and 2 bracteoles. Worldwide: 71 genera and 750 species, mostly tropical and warm, few temperate. Zimbabwe: 6 cultivated genera and 8 cultivated taxa. |
Genus | Content |
Alternanthera Forssk. | Description, Image |
Bassia All. | Description |
Celosia L. | Description |
Gomphrena L. | Description, Image |
Iresine P. Browne | Description, Image |
Rhagodia R. Br. | Description |
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