Table 1.
Morphological characters of the six genera found in tribe Piptostigmateae. Modified from Couvreur et al. (2009). Piptostigma is represented by two columns because it is paraphyletic (Fig. 1).
| Genus | Annickia | Greenwayodendron | Mwasumbia | Sirdavidia | Piptostigma fasciculatum | Piptostigma | Polyceratocarpus |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Character | |||||||
| Species diversity/distribution | 8 / West and Central Africa, 1 species in East Africa | 2 / West and Central Africa | 1 / Tanzania | 1 /Gabon | 1 / Central Africa | ~14 / Central and West Africa | 8 / West and Central Africa, 2 species in East Africa |
| Tertiary venation | intermediate | reticulate | intermediate | reticulate | parallel | parallel | parallel |
| Inflorescence position | terminal | terminal | axillary | axillary, cauliflorous | axillary | axillary, cauliflorous | axillary, cauliflorous |
| Sex distribution | bisexual | androdioecious | bisexual (?) | androdioecious (?) | bisexual | bisexual | androdioecious |
| Sepal aestivation | valvate | imbricate | imbricate | valvate | valvate | valvate | valvate |
| Petal number | 3 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 |
| Petal disposition | Upright, appressed forming a pollination chamber | Spreading horizontally, no pollination chamber | Outer petals recurved backwards, inner petals erect upwards, no pollination chamber | Recurving backwards to spreading horizontally, no pollination chamber | Pendulous, no pollination chamber | Upright, appressed forming a pollination chamber | Outer petals recurved backwards or erect upwards, inner petals erect upwards, pollination chamber possible |
| Petal relative length | outer absent | outer=inner | outer=inner | outer=inner | outer<inner | outer<inner | outer=inner |
| Torus (stamen portion) | flat/conical | flat/conical | short cylindrical | short cylindrical | short cylindrical | short cylindrical | short cylindrical |
| Torus (carpel portion) | flat/convex | flat/convex | concave | concave | concave | concave | concave |
| Apex of connective | discoid/tongue-shaped | discoid/tongue-shaped | discoid | discoid/tongue-shaped | discoid | discoid | discoid |
| Nr of carpels | numerous | 13–20 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3–14 | 2–20 |
| Number of ovules per carpel | 1 | 2 | 5–8 | 7 | ~ 18 | 6–10 | 20–30 |
| Ovule arrangement | basal | 1-seriate lateral | 1-seriate lateral | 1-seriate lateral | 2-seriate | 2 or 1-seriate lateral | 2-seriate lateral |
| Monocarps | stipitate | stipitate | sessile | sessile | sessile | sessile | sessile |