4385.000 Mallotus Lour.

Radcliffe-Smith, A. (1996) Euphorbiaceae Flora Zambesiaca 9(4)

Description of the genus

Dioecious, or rarely monoecious trees or shrubs, stipulate, often with a stellate, or sometimes simple or mixed, indumentum. Leaves opposite or alternate, sometimes anisophyllous, petiolate, sometimes lobed, entire or toothed, with 2 or more basal glands on the upper surface, and often pellucid-gland-dotted on upper and lower surfaces, penni- or palmi-nerved. Inflorescences spicate, racemose or paniculate, terminal, subterminal or axillary, few- to many-flowered; male flowers commonly in fascicles along the axis, female flowers 1–2 per bract. Male flowers: calyx usually globose in bud, later valvately (2)3–4(5)-partite; petals absent. Female flowers: calyx shallowly to deeply imbricately or valvately 3–5(10)-lobed, persistent, or subspathaceous and caducous; petals absent; disk absent; ovary (2-)3(-4)-locular, with 1 ovule per loculus. Fruit globose or (2-)3(-4)-lobed, smooth or echinate, dehiscing septicidally into bivalved cocci leaving a more or less 3-winged persistent columella; endocarp crustaceous. Seeds globose or ovoid, the outer testa slightly fleshy or soft, the inner testa crustaceous, smooth, endosperm fleshy, cotyledons broad, flat.

Worldwide: 140 species mostly in the Old World, 2 species in Africa.

Zimbabwe: 1 taxon.

Mallotus oppositifolius var. oppositifolius

Links to taxa:     View: living plant images - herbarium specimen images - all images for this genus

SpeciesFZ divisionsContent
oppositifolius (Geiseler) Müll. Arg. var. oppositifolius [End][CR]EDescription, Image

Other sources of information about Mallotus:

Our websites:

Flora of Caprivi: cultivated Mallotus
Flora of Malawi: Mallotus
Flora of Mozambique: Mallotus
Flora of Zambia: Mallotus

External websites:

African Plants: A Photo Guide (Senckenberg): Mallotus
BHL (Biodiversity Heritage Library): Mallotus
EOL (Encyclopedia of Life): Mallotus
GBIF (Global Biodiversity Information Facility): Mallotus
Google: Web - Images - Scholar
iNaturalist: Mallotus
IPNI (International Plant Names Index): Mallotus
JSTOR Plant Science: Mallotus
Mansfeld World Database of Agricultural and Horticultural Crops: Mallotus
Plants of the World Online: Mallotus
Tropicos: Mallotus
Wikipedia: Mallotus

Copyright: Mark Hyde, Bart Wursten, Petra Ballings and Meg Coates Palgrave, 2002-24

Hyde, M.A., Wursten, B.T., Ballings, P. & Coates Palgrave, M. (2024). Flora of Zimbabwe: Genus page: Mallotus.
https://www.zimbabweflora.co.zw/speciesdata/genus.php?genus_id=851, retrieved 28 March 2024

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