Stachyuraceae

Stachyurus Family

Deciduous and evergreen small trees and shrubs. Leaves simple and toothed, spirally arranged; stipules small, soon shed. Flowers bisexual, regular, shortly stalked and in pendulous axillary clusters, 4-parted with free petals. Stamens 8, free; anthers opening by longitudinal slits. Ovary superior, placentation axile. Fruit a 4-chambered berry with a leathery coat.

Flowers waxy in dense catkin-like hanging spikes looking like ears of wheat; petals 4.

1 genus of 5-6 species from E Asia, Himalaya to Japan.

Li (1943).

Source: Spencer, R. (1997). Stachyuraceae. In: Spencer, R.. Horticultural Flora of South-eastern Australia. Volume 2. Flowering plants. Dicotyledons. Part 1. The identification of garden and cultivated plants. University of New South Wales Press.

kingdom Plantae
phylum   Tracheophyta
class    Magnoliopsida
superorder     Rosanae
order      Crossosomatales
Higher taxa
Subordinate taxa
genus        Stachyurus Siebold & Zucc.