8384.000 Ixora L.

Shrubs or small trees, evergreen. Stipules interpetiolar, base broad, usually basally fused into a sheath, apex prolonged or aristate. Leaves opposite, rarely 3-whorled, petiolate or sessile. Inflorescence terminal cymes, dense or spreading corymbose or trichotomous; flowers pedicellate or sessile; bracts and bracteoles present; calyx tube usually ovoid, limb with 4 (or 5) persistent lobes; corolla salveform, glabrous or bearded at throat, apically 4 (or 5) lobed, lobes shorter than corolla tube, spreading or reflexed, contorted in bud. Fruit drupes, globose or slightly compressed, with 2 leathery pyrenes. Seeds same shape as pyrenes, testa membranous.

Derivation of name: 530 species in tropical and sub-tropical regions worldwide.

Zimbabwe: 2 cultivated taxa.