Cladostigma
Accepted name/Authority/Place of publication:
Cladostigma Radlk. in Abh. Naturwiss. Vereine Bremen 8: 412 (1883)
Tribe:
Cresseae
Habit:
Erect or climbing dioecious shrubs.
Leaves:
Leaves usually alternate, rarely fascicled, covered with medifixed hairs on both sides.
Inflorescences:
Male flowers on pedunculate inflorescences. Female flowers on pedunculate inflorescences or fasciculate.
Flowers:
Flowers 5-merous.
Male flowers: Sepals subequal. Corolla tubular, much longer than the sepals, 5-lobed, pubescent on the outside. Stamens 5, with filaments + equal in length. Rudimentary ovary with 2 styles, longer than the stamens, with U-shaped stigma branches.
Female flowers: Sepals subequal, all accrescent, or sometimes unequal with three outer ones accrescent, and two remaining smaller. Corolla only slightly longer than the sepals, pubescent on the outside. Ovary with 2 styles divided to the base and with branched stigma; ovary 2-locular with 2 ovules in each locule, glabrous to pubescent at the apex. Staminodes 5, ? equal in length with the filaments dilated at the base, without anthers.
Pollen:
Not recorded
Fruits:
Fruit capsular, 4-valved, 1 - 2 seeded, enveloped by the fruiting accrescent sepals.
Seeds:
Seeds ovoid, trigonous, rugose.
Distribution:
Northeast and East Africa and Yemen. map
Countries:
Ethiopia
Eritrea
Kenya
Saudi Arabia
Somalia
Ecology:
Bushland with Acacia on diverse soil types from 325 - 1850 m
Number of Species:
3
Infrageneric Characters:
Important characters for distinguishing species within the genus include habit (erect versus scandent or climbing shrub), leaf shape and pubescence, sepal shape and size (both in flower and fruit), pubescence and articulation of the male flowers and relative lengths of the pistillode and corolla.
Contributors:
Acknowledgements:
This species page was produced as part of the project 'Expanding the scope of African Digital Plant Resources' funded by the World Collections Programme.