Erycibe
Accepted name/Authority/Place of publication:
ERYCIBE Roxb., Pl. Coromandel 2: 31, t. 159. 1798
Tribe:
Erycibeae
Type Species:
Erycibe paniculata Roxb.
Habit:
Woody climbers, scandent shrubs, or treelets; stems sometimes lenticellate, twigs glabrous or tomentose, hairs 2-armed or stellate.
Leaves:
Leaves petiolate, entire, coriaceous or chartaceous.
Inflorescences:
Inflorescences terminal or axillary, racemose, paniculate or glomerulate; bracts early deciduous, usually minute
Flowers:
Flowers small, often fragrant; sepals free, persistent, nearly equal, leathery, usually pubescent outside; corolla white or yellow, rotate, tube short, glabrous outside, limb deeply 5-lobed, each lobe again 2-lobulate apically, midpetaline areas densely appressed pubescent outside, lateral lobules rather thin, glabrous; stamens included or tips exserted, filaments triangular or laterally concave, anthers cordate basally, apex obtuse or tapering acuminate by sterile acumen, sometimes truncate to retuse at both ends; pollen not spiny; ovary globose, ellipsoid, or cylindrical, 1 (or 2)-celled, 4-ovuled, stigma nearly sessile, conical, with 5 or 10 radiating straight or spirally twisted ridges.
Pollen:
pollen not spiny
Fruits:
Fruit a leathery or fleshy berry
Seeds:
Seed 1; embryo pleated and folded
Distribution:
mainly in tropical Asia and Malesia with outlying species in Australia, Japan, Taiwan. map
Countries:
Australia
Japan
Taiwan
Number of Species:
75
Other information:
The flowers of Erycibe are often intensely, sweetly fragrant and the plants, high in the forest canopy, may be detected when in bloom by following the scent. Berries have a soft, juicy, edible pulp surrounding the seed; birds and mammals eat the fruits and may play a role in seed dispersal. Berries undergo colour changes as they ripen from green through yellowish to either dark (purple, blackish) or an orange-red colouration. Fruit colours mentioned in the key following refer to fully ripe fruits; do not be misled!
References:
Hoogland, Blumea 7:342. 1953;
Hoogland in Ooststr., Fl. Males. I, 4: 404. 1953;
M.S. Khan, Fl. Bangladesh 30: 12. 1985;
R.C. Fang & Staples in C.Y. Wu & P. H. Raven, Fl. China 16: 277. 1995
Contributors:
Hoogland (Blumea 7: 342–361. 1953) nomenclaturally revised the entire genus, including all taxa described up to that time. Unfortunately he did not prepare descriptions for the continental Asian species of the genus, though he annotated much of the available material. Thus it has been necessary to develop taxonomic concepts based on study of the specimens Hoogland annotated and comparing them with more recent gatherings.