''Trichocladus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family
Hamamelidaceae
Hamamelidaceae, commonly referred to as the witch-hazel family, is a family of flowering plants in the order Saxifragales. The clade consists of shrubs and small trees positioned within the woody clade of the core Saxifragales. An earlier system ...
, consisting of shrubs or small trees. The distinguishing features of the genus ''Trichocladus'' are as follows:
*Branches and leaves are often covered in dense, velvet-like, stellate hairs.
*Leaves are simple, alternate or opposite, and paler beneath, with inconspicuous
stipules
In botany, a stipule is an outgrowth typically borne on both sides (sometimes on just one side) of the base of a leafstalk (the petiole). They are primarily found among dicots and rare among monocots. Stipules are considered part of the anatomy ...
.
*Flowers are borne in dense, spherical heads, with floral parts in 4s or 5s. Sepals are fused together, forming a tube. Petals are long and narrow. ''Trichocladus'' flowers closely resemble those of the genus ''
Hamamelis
Witch-hazels or witch hazels (''Hamamelis'') are a genus of flowering plants in the family Hamamelidaceae, with three species in North America ('' H. ovalis'', '' H. virginiana'', and '' H. vernalis''), and one each in Japan ('' H.&n ...
'' and are hermaphroditic or sexually separate, with male and female parts being borne on different flowers, either on the same plant of different plants (either
monoecious
Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system comparable with gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy, and contras ...
or
dioecious
Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...
).
*Fruits consist of a two-valved capsule which appears to be 4-valved at its apex.
[Coates-Palgrave, M. 2002. Keith Coates-Palgrave "Trees of Southern Africa", edn 3, imp. 4. Random House Struik (Pty), Ltd, Cape Town. . pp 243, 245]
Species
Species include:
[Missouri Botanic Garden, TROPICOS Nomenclatural Data Base, 09 September 200]
/ref>
* '' Trichocladus crinitus'' ( Thunb.) Pers.
Christiaan Hendrik Persoon (31 December 1761 – 16 November 1836) was a Cape Colony mycologist who is recognized as one of the founders of mycological taxonomy.
Early life
Persoon was born in Cape Colony at the Cape of Good Hope, the thi ...
* '' Trichocladus ellipticus'' Eckl. & Zeyh.
* '' Trichocladus goetzei'' Engl. Engl or Engl. may refer to:
*England
England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more ...
* ''Trichocladus grandiflorus
''Trichocladus grandiflorus'' is a species in the genus '' Trichocladus'', in the family Hamamelidaceae. It is also called splendid witch-hazel.Coates-Palgrave, M. 2002. Keith Coates-Palgrave "Trees of Southern Africa", edn 3, imp. 4. Random Hous ...
'' Oliv.
Distribution
South Africa[Mabberley, D. J., "Mabberley's Plant-Book", 3rd ed., Cambridge University Press, 2008. (hardback) pp 836] and Zimbabwe.
Etymology
''Trichocladus'' is derived from Greek and means 'hairy-branched' (τριχός ''trichos'', ‘hair’; κλάδος ''klados'', ‘branch’).[Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 385]
References
Hamamelidaceae genera
Afromontane flora
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
Hamamelidaceae
{{Saxifragales-stub