Bruniaceae is a family of shrubs native to the cape region of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. They are mostly restricted to the

Cape Province The Province of the Cape of Good Hope (), commonly referred to as the Cape Province () and colloquially as The Cape (), was a province in the Union of South Africa and subsequently the Republic of South Africa. It encompassed the old Cape Co ...

, but a small number of species occur in

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

Description

Species belonging to the Bruniaceae are heath-like shrubs. They have small, hard, scaly leaves that are alternate but regularly set and overlapping. A distinct character is the minute black tip of the leaves when these are young. The

inflorescence In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...

is a dense spike or spherical flowerhead with up to 400 flowers at the end of the stems. Individual flowers are tube-shaped and

hermaphrodite A hermaphrodite () is a sexually reproducing organism that produces both male and female gametes. Animal species in which individuals are either male or female are gonochoric, which is the opposite of hermaphroditic. The individuals of many ...

, there are five sepals which may be free or connected at their rim, while the ovary sits under the other parts of the flower. The fruit is dry when ripe, opens with two or four valves and contains fleshy seeds.

Taxonomy

In the APG II taxonomy they are placed in the order

Lamiales The Lamiales (also known as the mint order) are an order of flowering plants in the asterids clade of the Eudicots. Under the APG IV system of flowering plant classification the order consists of 24 families, and includes about 23,810 species ...

, but a 2008 study suggested that they are sister to the Columelliaceae, and the

Angiosperm Phylogeny Website The Angiosperm Phylogeny Website (or APweb) is a website that presents up-to-date research on the phylogeny and taxonomy of flowering plants (angiosperms) in what is intended to be a user-friendly way. The site is hosted by the Missouri Botanical ...

proposes incorporating this finding by placing both families in order Bruniales.

Genera

There are twelve genera, totalling 77 species: * '' Audouinia'' Brongn. * '' Berzelia'' Brongn. * '' Brunia'' Lam. * '' Linconia'' L. * '' Lonchostoma'' Wikstr. * '' Mniothamnea'' (Oliv.) Nied. * '' Nebelia'' Neck. ex Sweet * '' Pseudobaeckea'' Nied. * '' Raspalia'' Brongn. * '' Staavia'' Dahl * '' Thamnea'' Sol. ex Brongn. * '' Tittmannia'' Brongn.

References

Asterid families Bruniales Flora of the Cape Provinces Flora of KwaZulu-Natal {{asterid-stub