BUXACEAE
Morphological description
Woody plants, often shrubs.
Leaves
Leaves simple, penninerved, exstipulate.
Inflorescence
Inflorescence.
Flowers
Flower unisexual, actinomorphic, sepals 4, free, corolla and disk absent, ovary superior, 2-3-locular; ovules pendent with dorsal raphe, stamens 4 opposite sepals.
Fruits
Fruit a capsule.
Seeds
Seeds with a caruncle.
Different from: Euphorbiaceae: raphe on ventral surface.
Distribution: The family is confined to the tropics and subtropics of the Old World. In Malesia only: - Buxus (northern hemisphere), limestone; - Sarcococca (Southeast Asia, West Malesia), rain forest.
Literature: C.A. Backer & R.C. Bakhuizen van den Brink, Fl. Java 1 (1965) 646-647; H. Keng, Orders and Families of Malaysian seed plants (1978) 211.
Spot characters (Van Balgooy): Buxaceae 65, 79 - Buxus 59, 66, 89 - Sarcococca 64, 89, 101.
Illustrations: Fig. 36. Sarcococca saligna (D. Don) Mull. Arg. (Buxaceae). Twigs; enlarged female inflorescence. Reproduced from R. Kanehira, Formosan Trees (1936) 361, fig. 316.
Images in PhytoImages for Buxaceae.