TREATMENT FROM THE JEPSON MANUAL	previous taxon | next taxon Jepson Interchange (more information)
	©Copyright 1993 by the Regents of the University of California Print edition is available from the University of California Press

	The second edition of The Jepson Manual (2012) is available from the University of California Press
	See also the Jepson eFlora, which parallels the Second Edition

CELASTRACEAE

STAFF-TREE FAMILY

Barry A. Prigge

Shrub (sometimes climbing), tree, sometimes thorny, generally glabrous
Leaves simple, opposite or alternate, ephemeral to persistent, subsessile or petioled; veins pinnate
Inflorescence: cluster, cyme, raceme, panicle, or flower solitary, axillary or terminal, bracted
Flower generally bisexual, radial, small; hypanthium ± cup-shaped; sepals 4–5; petals (0)4–5, free; stamens 4–5, alternate petals, attached below or to rim of disk; ovary superior or ± embedded in disk, 2–5-chambered, placentas axile or basal, style generally 1, short, stigma ± head-like, 2–5-lobed
Fruit: capsule, winged achene, berry, drupe, or nutlet, often 1-chambered
Seed generally 1 per chamber, arilled
Genera in family: 50 genera, 800 species: worldwide, especially se Asia; some ornamental (Celastrus, Euonymus, Maytenus,, Paxistima )
Reference: [Brizicky 1964 J Arnold Arbor 45:206–234]