PlantNET Home DONATE TODAY | PlantNET Home | Search NSW Flora | Contact Us  
FloraOnline
Introduction
Plant Name Search
Index Search
Spatial Search
Identification Keys
Classification
Glossary
WeedAlert
Telopea Journal
Other Data Sources
NEW SOUTH WALES FLORA ONLINE Printable Page

Genus Sauropus Family Phyllanthaceae

Description: Shrubs, subshrubs or herbs sometimes from a woody base, monoecious or dioecious.

Leaves alternate, entire, shortly petiolate; stipules small.

Flowers axillary, mostly clustered. Perianth segments 6, in 2 whorls, usually larger in female flowers, free or fused below, often enlarging during fruit formation. Male flowers with perianth forming a tube, or frequently flattened, entire or acutely 6–12-lobed; glands or disc absent; stamens 3, free or fused into a short column. Female flowers without a disc; ovules 2 in each loculus; styles entire or bifid.

Capsule globose or ovoid, [occasionally fleshy and berry-like].


Distribution and occurrence: World: 40 species, South-East Asia, Malesia, Australia. Australia: c. 15 species, all mainland States except Vic.

Formerly in Euphorbiaceae.

Text by T.A. James & G.J. Harden, Flora of New South Wales Vol. 1: 399-400 (1990), in Euphorbiaceae
Taxon concept: Australian Plant Census (accessed May 2017)

 Key to the species 
1Stems and leaves minutely bristly; rigid shrub, branchlets often ending in a spineSauropus rigens
Stems and leaves glabrous; slender or wiry shrubs, subshrubs or herbs, branchlets not ending in spines2
2Leaves 1–2 mm wide, falling earlySauropus ramosissimus
Leaves mostly 2–5 mm wide, more or less persistent
                       Back to 1
3
3Leaves oblong or ovate to lanceolate, thin-textured, with margins flat; seeds deeply sculpturedSauropus trachyspermus
Leaves linear or obovate to oblanceolate, relatively thick, recurved to revolute and thickened; seeds rugose with a longitudinal rib on one side
                       Back to 2
Sauropus hirtellus

  Privacy | Copyright | Disclaimer | About PlantNET | Cite PlantNET