AIZOACEAE
Morphological description
Herbaceous. Creeping herb, leaves fleshy (Sesuvium). Leaves usually decussate (incl. verticillate); stipules small.
Leaves simple, entire.
Inflorescence
Pedicel fused with petiole (Trianthema)
Flowers
Flowers hermaphrodite, actinomorphic, tepals 5, free; ovary superior, styles 2.
Fruit
Fruit a capsule with numerous seeds.
Seeds
Seeds few, usually.
Different from: Boerhavia (Nyctaginaceae): ovary inferior, fruit 1-seeded. - Portulacaceae: flowers with sepals and petals, style branched.
Distribution: The family worldwide, best developed in South Africa. In Malesia 4 genera, including Sesuvium, a creeper, common on sandy beaches.
Notes: Species of Mesembryanthemum* are cultivated as ornamentals; leaves of Tetragonia tetragonoides* are eaten as a vegetable.
Literature: C.A. Backer, Fl. Males. I, 4 (1951) 267-275.
Spot characters (Van Balgooy): Interpetiolar stipules and stipule-like structures (Aizoaceae), epiphyllous inflorescence (Trianthema portulacastrum), inferior ovary (Tetragonia)
Illustrations in Plant Portraits: Fig. 6. Glinus oppositifolius (L.) DC. (Aizoaceae). Reproduced from Flora Malesiana I, 4 (1951) 271, fig. 1. , Fig. 7. Sesuvium portulacastrum L. (Aizoaceae). Reproduced from C. A. Backer, Weed Flora of Javanese Sugar-cane fields, Atlas pt 8 (1935) t. 251.
Image in PhytoImages for Aizoaceae, Glinus, Mollugo, Sesuvium