3968.000 Guaiacum L.

Trees or shrubs, evergreen and slow growing; nodes often swollen. Leaves opposite, paripinnate; leaflets 2-14, sessile base usually unequal; stipules minute, deciduous. Inflorescence in axillary clusters of one to several flowers. Flowers stalked, showy and fragrant; sepals 4-5, overlapping; petals 4-5, blue to lavender (rarely white). Fruit a dehiscent capsule, 2-5-lobed or winged, orange to red, leathery, smooth. Seed 1 per lobe enclosed in a coloured aril.

Worldwide: 4-5 species in the warm, dry tropics of Mexico, Central America, northern South America and the Caribbean, including southern Florida and the Bahamas.

Zimbabwe: 1 cultivated taxon.