COCHLOSPERMACEAE
NB Cochlospermaceae is a synonym of Bixaceae.
Morphological description
Woody, non-climbing. Usually deciduous
Leaves
Leaves spiral, simple, palmatilobed, stipules caducous.
Flowers
Flower bisexual, actinomorphic, 5-merous, yellow; sepals and petals free, imbricate; stamens numerous; ovary superior, 3-5-locular.
Fruit
Fruit a capsule.
Seed
Seed numerous, covered by woolly hairs.
Different from: Bixaceae: flowers red, capsule bristly. — Bombacaceae: scales or stellate hairs, sepals united.
Distribution: The only genus of the family, Cochlospermum, is pantropical. In Malesia 3 species, of which one native in New Guinea, the other two occasionally planted.
Notes: Ornamental trees, in areas with seasonal climate.
Literature: C.G.G.J. van Steenis, Fl. Males. I, 4 (1949) 61-63; H.H. Poppendieck, Bot. Jahrb. 101 (1980) 191-265.
Spot characters (Van Balgooy): plants with red or orange sap (p.p.), leaf with domatia, flowers yellow, stamens numerous, seeds comose.
Illustrations: Fig. 30. Cochlospermum religiosum (L.) Alston. C.G.G.J. van Steenis, Fl. Males. I, 4 (1949) 62.
Images in PhytoImages for Bixaceae