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

SAURURACEAE

LIZARD'S-TAIL FAMILY

Elizabeth McClintock

Perennial, from rhizomes or stolons
Leaves simple, alternate; stipules joined to petiole
Inflorescence: spike, dense, many-flowered, terminal, sometimes subtended by petal-like involucre bracts and so resembling a single flower
Flowers small, bisexual; perianth 0; stamens 6, 8 (or 3); ovary superior but sometimes embedded in inflorescence axis, compound, 1-chambered or carpels fused only at base, styles 3–4, distinct
Fruit: capsule, ± fleshy, dehiscent at tip or ± berry-like
Seeds many or 1, spheric or ovate
Genera in family: 5 genera, 7 species: e Asia, North America
Reference: [Wood 1971 J Arnold Arb 52:479–485]