5083.000 Sterculia L.

Trees with leaves entire or lobed. Flowers borne on panicles appearing with the new foliage. Trees monoecious or dioecious. Flowers bisexual or unisexual. Calyx 4-5-lobed; petals 0. Male flowers with 10-20 anthers in a capitate cluster borne on a slender androphore. Ovary of female flowers with 4-5 coherent carpels; 2 to many ovules per carpel. Fruit a cluster of follicles, often woody.

Derivation of name: The genus is named for Sterculius, the Roman god for manure, the reason being the unpleasant smell of the flowers of some species, e.g. Sterculia foetida.

Worldwide: Throughout the tropics, with about 24 species in Africa.

Zimbabwe: 2 cultivated taxa.