Spermatophyta: Monocotyledonae: Poales

Eriocaulaceae

Phillips, S.M. (1998) Eriocaulaceae of the Flora Zambesiaca area Kirkia 17(1) 11-67

Description of the family

Annual or perennial herbs, usually with short stems. Leaves narrow, spirally arranged in a crowded basal rosette (rarely (setaceum) borne on elongated stems). Inflorescence capitate, white, dirty grey, brown or black. Capitula of many small unisexual flowers on a central receptacle, surrounded by 1-several whorls of involucral bracts; each flower often subtended by a floral bract. Flowers (2-)3-merous, ± actinomorphic to strongly zygomorphic. Perianth usually composed of 2 distinct whorls; calyx of free to almost connate sepals, sometimes spathe-like especially in male flowers. Petals free or partly connate, often with a subapical black gland. Male flowers: stamens as many as or twice the number of sepals. Female flowers: ovary 2-3-locular, superior; style branched. Fruit a loculicidally dehiscent capsule; each loculus 1-seeded.

Worldwide: 9 genera and 1100 species, mostly in tropical and warm parts of the world (especially America) but also with a few temperate species.

Zimbabwe: 3 genera and 26 taxa.

Eriocaulon fuscum

Links to genera:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this family

GenusContent
Eriocaulon L.Description, Image
Mesanthemum Körn.Description
Syngonanthus RuhlandDescription

Other sources of information about Eriocaulaceae:

Our websites:

Flora of Botswana: Eriocaulaceae
Flora of Caprivi: cultivated Eriocaulaceae
Flora of Malawi: Eriocaulaceae
Flora of Mozambique: Eriocaulaceae
Flora of Zambia: Eriocaulaceae

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Eriocaulaceae
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Eriocaulaceae
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Eriocaulaceae
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Eriocaulaceae
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Eriocaulaceae
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Eriocaulaceae
JSTOR Plant Science: Eriocaulaceae
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Eriocaulaceae
Wikipedia: Eriocaulaceae
Plants of the World Online: Eriocaulaceae
Tropicos: Eriocaulaceae



Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2002-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Zimbabwe: Family page: Eriocaulaceae.
https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/family.php?family_id=83, retrieved 29 March 2024

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