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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]

MORTONIA

Shrub, erect, scabrous
Leaves alternate, persistent, ascending, leathery, entire; margin generally thicker
Inflorescence: panicle, terminal; flowers many
Flower: parts in 5's; hypanthium obconic; petals white; disk fused to hypanthium except at top, fleshy, ± white, becoming red-purple; ovary superior, narrowly ovoid, stigma lobes 5, slender, spreading
Fruit: nutlets 5, oblong-cylindric, light brown
Seed 1 per nutlet, straw-colored, very difficult to separate from nutlet; aril 0
Species in genus: 5 species: sw US, Mex
Etymology: (S.G. Morton, 19th century North America naturalist)

Native

M. utahensis (Trel.) A. Nelson

Plant 3–12 dm, coarsely scabrous
Stem: twigs creamy white, turning gray
Leaf: petiole ± 0–1 mm; blade 6–16 mm, ovate to round, from above transversely concave and longitudinally convex, base rounded to tapered, tip round to acute, sometimes with small point
Inflorescence 8–65 mm, 6–23 mm wide
Flower: hypanthium 1.5–2 mm; sepals 1–2.3 mm, tips often acute, keeled; petals 2.2–3 mm, ovate
Fruit 5–7 mm, glabrous
Ecology: Limestone slopes, canyon bottoms
Elevation: 900–2100 m.
Bioregional distribution: Desert Mountains (Inyo, ne San Bernardino cos.)
Distribution outside California: to sw Utah
Flowering time: Mar–May
Horticultural information: DRN, DRY: 1, 2, 3, 10; DFCLT.

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