Lecythidaceae - Brazil-nut family

Barringtoniaceae

Bailey, L.H. & Bailey, E.Z. (1976) Hortus Third. A concise Dictionary of Plants Cultivated in the United States and Canada Macmillan Publishing Co, Inc., New York

Fernandes, A. (1978) Barringtoniaceae Flora Zambesiaca 4

Mori, S. A. & Prance, G. T. (2006 onwards) The Lecythidaceae Pages (http://sweetgum.nybg.org/lp/index.html). The New York Botanical Garden, Bronx, New York.

Walters, S.M. et al. (eds) (2000) The European Garden Flora. Vol. VI. Dicotyledons (Part IV). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

Description of the family

Trees or shrubs. Stipules 0 or caducous. Leaves simple, alternate or clustered at branch apices. Flowers actinomorphic or zygomorphic, solitary or in spikes, clusters or racemes. Sepals usually 4-6. Petals usually 4-6, ± free. Stamens many in several whorls, often arranged on one side of the flower. Ovary inferior, 2-6-locular. Fruit a berry or woody capsule, indehiscent or dehiscent by a lid (circumscissile). Worldwide: 20 genera and 285 species in the tropics, mainly South American rain forests; 2 species occurring naturally in the Flora Zambesiaca region, but not in Zimbabwe. Mozambique: 1 cultivated genus and 1 cultivated taxon.

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