BURMANNIACEAE
Morphological description
Herbs, often colorless saprophytes and leaves reduced to scales. Grass-like non-saprophytic herbs in some species of Burmannia)
Leaves
Leaves simple, entire, spirally arranged, exstipulate.
Inflorescence
Inflorescence.
Flowers
Flower (usually) actinomorphic, bisexual, 3-merous; ovary inferior.
Fruits
Fruit a capsule with numerous tiny seeds.
Seeds
Seeds tiny.
Different from: Orchidaceae: flowers zygomorphic.
Distribution: The family worldwide. In Malesia 5 genera.
Notes: Burmannia (pantropical), lowland and lower montane forest floor. - Thismia (tropical Asia, America), lowland and lower montane forest floor.
Literature: Acanth F.P. Jonker, Fl. Males. I, 4 (1948) 13-26aceae.
Spot characters (Van Balgooy): Burmanniaceae 92 - Burmannia 7 - Gymnosiphon 7 - Thismia 7.
Illustrations: Fig. 33. Thismia episcopalis (Becc.) F. Muell. (Burmanniaceae). Fig. 34. Burmannia longifolia Becc. (Burmanniaceae). Reproduced from M.R. Henderson, Malayan wild flowers, Monocotyledons (1954, repr. 1974) 171. With kind permission of the Malaysian Nature Society. 55.
Images in PhytoImages for Burmanniaceae.