Olacaceae

Olacaceae is a family of dicotyledonous plants comprising 26 genera and 250 lactiferous and non-lactiferous species of trees, shrubs and lianas, some of which parasitize the roots of their hosts. They inhabit tropical and subtropical regions.

The fruits of the genus Ximenia are edible.

Description

They are trees, shrubs or rarely scandent vines, autotrophic or hemiparasitic, sometimes armed with axillary spines; hermaphrodite plants (in Nicaragua) or rarely monoecious. Alternate leaves, margins entire; petiolate, exstipulate. Axillary inflorescences, frequently fasciculated; actinomorphic flowers; calyx small, sometimes accrescent; petals free or connate, valvate; stamens equal or double the number of the petals, filaments generally free, anthers ditheca, almost always with longitudinal dehiscence; ovary superior or rarely semiferrous, 2–5-locular, ovules 2–5, pendulous, style simple, stigma frequently 3-lobed. Fruit generally drupaceous; seed 1, abundant endosperm.

Genres

Synonymy

• Erythropalaceae[1] Archived on 13 December 2010 at Wayback Machine., Octoknemaceae[2]