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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]
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