Common Name: D
Description: Twining rhizomatous herbs, climbing or procumbent, with succulent stems and soft leaves.
Inflorescence axillary, spicate, the axis stout and fleshy, occasionally branched. Flowers sessile, not or scarcely opening (cleistogamous or weakly chasmogamous), bisexual, scentless to humans; bracteoles 2, fleshy, adnate to perianth. Sepals 2. Petals 5, obtuse, usually connate for half or more of their length, fleshy, persistent in fruit. Stamens 5, inserted near top of perianth tube, not emergent; anthers dorsifixed, longitudinally dehiscent. Ovary: ovule 1; style 3-fid; stigmas linear.
Fruit berry-like or nut-like with a solitary seed, enclosed in the persistent and sometimes fleshy perianth and sepals.
Distribution and occurrence: World: 5 species, native to Kenya to S. Africa, Madagascar, Tropical Asia. Australia: 1 species widely cultivated and naturalised in Christmas Is., and doubtfully in N.S.W., Qld.
Basella alba is widely cultivated as a vegetable.
Text by D.J. Du Puy, R.L. Barrett, Flora of Australia Online [accessed 15 Jun. 2023]. Added by K.L. Gibbons 15 Jun. 2023.
Taxon concept:
| One species in NSW: Basella alba |
|
