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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]

PAXISTIMA

Shrub, prostrate to ascending
Stem: twig 4-angled, with corky ridges
Leaves opposite, persistent, leathery, finely toothed
Inflorescence axillary, 1–3-flowered
Flower: parts in 4's; petals red-brown; disk fused to hypanthium, ± square, fleshy; stamens short, attached to disk margin; ovary embedded in disk, stigma lobes 2, obscure
Fruit: capsule, loculicidal; valves 2
Seed shiny, dark brown to black; aril surrounding base and 1 side of seed, white, thin, fringed
Species in genus: 2 species: North America
Etymology: (Greek: thick stigma)

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