STYRACACEAE
Morphological description
Trees usually with stellate hairs. Plants often galled.
Leaves
Leaves spiral, simple, penninerved, exstipulate. Usually whitish beneath.
Inflorescence
Inflorescence.
Flowers
Flowers bisexual, actino-morphic, disk absent. Usually corolla tubular, lobes 4-7, stamens as many or twice as many as corolla lobes, adnate to tube, ovary superior, 3-5-celled.
Fruit
Fruit usually a 1-seeded capsule.
Seed
Seed.
Different from: Symplocaceae: no stellate hairs; stamens numerous, ovary inferior.
Distribution: Mainly a northern hemisphere family; in Malesia 2 genera: - Bruinsmia (Malesia), montane forest; - Styrax (northern hemisphere, in Malesia east to New Guinea), lowland monsoon and everwet forest.
Notes: Some species of Styrax produce an aromatic resin (menyan) and are cultivated for that reason.
Literature: C.G.G.J. van Steenis, Fl. Males. I, 4 (1949) 49-55.
Spot characters (Van Balgooy): Styracaceae 58 - Bruinsmia 26, 84 - Styrax 25, 26, 84.
Illustrations: Fig. 164. Bruinsmia styracoides Boerl. & Koord.: a. habit; b-d. flower; e. CS of ovary; f. CS of fruit; g. seeds.
Image in PhytoImages for Styracaceae