Table 3.

Characters of the genera present in clade VII. *number of seeds per fruit: not taking into account cases of aberrant extreme abortion; **ratio calyx tube/calyx lobes is close to 1.

Character/genus	Coptosperma (sub-clade in clade VII)	Homollea	Exallosperma	Helictosperma	Pseudocoptosperma	Tulearia
Leaves and shoots
Shoot dimorphism	absent	absent	present: Terminalia-branching	present: Terminalia-branching	absent	present
Leaves	coriaceouspersistent	(sub)coriaceouspersistent	papyraceousdeciduous	papyraceousdeciduous	coriaceouspersistent	coriaceouspersistent
Stipule dimorphism	absent	absent	present	present	absent	absent
Inflorescences
Position	terminal, sessile	pseudo-axillary, pedunculate	pseudo-axillary, pedunculate	pseudo-axillary, pedunculate	terminal, sessile	terminal on short-shoots, sessile
Number of flowers	multiflorous	pauciflorous (1–12)	pauciflorous (3–12)	-multiflorous (25–90)3-pauciflorous [(1–)5–15(–20)]4	multiflorous	-pauciflorous (1–5)5-uniflorous6
Flowers
Calyx	small, rarely well-developed-tube = lobes**-rarely tube < lobes	well-developedtube < lobes	well-developedtube < lobes	well-developedtube < lobes	smalltube = lobes**	well-developed-tube < lobes5-tube ≥ lobes6
Length of corolla tube	< 1.5 cm	(0.6–)1.5–3 cm	2.7–3.6 cm	0.5–1.4 cm	0.15–0.25 cm	0.4–3 cm
Outer surface of corolla tube	glabrous	-glabrous-sparsely to densely covered with erect hairs	densely covered with erect hairs	-glabrous-moderately to densely covered with erect hairs	glabrous	sericeous
Stamens
Position at anthesis	completely exserted	partly exserted	partly exserted	completely exserted	completely exserted	partly exserted
Insertion on corolla	in throat	0.5–3 mm below level of throat	ca. 2 mm below level of throat	in throat	in throat	at or ca.1.5 mm below level of throat
Placentation
Number and position of ovules	-1–3 ovules, impressed in placenta-3 collateral ovules pendulous from small placenta1	2–7 ovules arising from upper margin of placenta	3–4 ovules arising from upper margin of small placenta	3 ovules arising from upper margin of small placenta	3 ovules pendulous from small placenta	3–7 ovules arranged along the periphery of placenta
Attachment of placenta	middle or upper half of septum	middle or lower half of septum	lower half of septum	lower half of septum	upper half of septum	upper half of septum
Fruits
Number of pyrenes	1	2	2	1	1	2
Number of seeds/fruit*	1	(1–)2–6	2	1	1	2
Texture of pyrene(s)	crustaceous	crustaceous/stony	stony	crustaceous	crustaceous	crustaceous5/stony6
Opening of pyrene	along the line of fusion of the locules	-absent-along 4 preformed germination slits splitting into 4 valves-along 4 preformed germination slits with the formation of separate stony dispersal units	along a short apical longitudinal preformed germination slit on abaxial and adaxial sides	along 4 preformed longitudinal germination slits; splitting into 4 valves	along the line of fusion of the locules	along a longitudinal preformed germination slit present over the entire length on the abaxial and adaxial sides
Seeds
Seed shape	spherical/ovoidal	laterally compressed (± lentil-shaped)	laterally compressed (bean-shaped)	spherical (rolled-in on itself)	spherical/ovoidal	hemi-sphericalhemi-ovoidal
Hilum	irregular, superficial	linear, superficial	irregularly ovate, superficial	ovate, profound	ovate, superficial	irregular, superficial
Seed surface	smooth (but lines of rumination visible)	smooth	irregular ridges present over the whole surface	smooth	smooth (but lines of rumination visible)	smooth (but lines of rumination visible)
Exotesta cells	parenchymatic	with continuous plate-like thickenings along the outer tangential and the upper parts of the radial walls	with continuous plate-like thickenings along the outer tangential and the upper parts of the radial walls	with continuous plate-like thickenings along the outer tangential and the upper parts of the radial walls	parenchymatic	parenchymatic
Annulus	absent	present	present	present	absent	absent
Endosperm	ruminate	entire	entire	entire	ruminate	ruminate
Pollen
Tectum	perforate to microreticulate	perforate to microreticulate	psilate	perforate to microreticulate	perforate to microreticulate	perforate to microreticulate
Supratectal elements	absent/present2	present	absent	absent	absent	absent

¹ Coptosperma sp. D; ² Coptosperma nigrescens; ³ Helictosperma malacophylla; ⁴ H. poissoniana; ⁵ Tulearia splendida; ⁶ T. capsaintemariensis.