4171.000 Turraea L.

Shrubs or small trees, sometimes scrambling. Leaves simple, alternate, entire or rarely shallowly lobed. Flowers bisexual, 4-5-merous, fasciculate or in false racemes. Petals (4-)5. Staminal tube cylindric, sometimes expanded apically, terminated by simple or 2-lobed, free or partially or completely fused, appendages. Anthers (8-)10, inserted on the rim of the staminal tube or inside the tube near the apex. Ovary 10-locular (in ours). Seeds with an orange or red aril; testa black or red, shining.

Derivation of name: after Giorgio della Turra, 1607-1688, Italian doctor and professor of botany.

Worldwide: 60 species in Africa, Madagascar and tropical Asia to Australia.

Zimbabwe: 2 cultivated taxa.