| # The Families of Angiosperms |

L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz

### Diegodendraceae Capuron

~ Bixaceae.

Habit and leaf form. Small trees, or shrubs. Leaves alternate; non-sheathing; densely, minutely gland-dotted; aromatic (smelling of camphor when crushed); simple. Lamina entire; lanceolate. Leaves stipulate. Stipules intrapetiolar; caducous (fairly large, convolute, leaving annular scars). Lamina margins entire.

Axial (stem, wood) anatomy. The vessels with vestured pits.

Reproductive type, pollination. Unisexual flowers absent. Plants hermaphrodite.

Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in panicles. Inflorescences terminal; few-flowered terminal panicles with alternate branches. Flowers bracteate; bracteolate; large; fragrant; regular. Free hypanthium absent. Hypogynous disk absent (?).

Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 10 (usually), or 12; 2 whorled; isomerous. Calyx 5(–6); 1 whorled; polysepalous (the sepals unequal); persistent. Corolla 5(–6); 1 whorled; polypetalous (the petals large, slightly unequal); imbricate; deciduous.

Androecium 30–100 (‘many’). Androecial members free of the perianth; free of one another. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 30–100 (‘many’); polystemonous; filantherous (the filaments filiform). Anthers basifixed (ovate-oblong); non-versatile; dehiscing via longitudinal slits; latrorse.

Gynoecium 1–4 carpelled. Carpels reduced in number relative to the perianth. The pistil (1–)2–4 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synstylous (deeply lobed, the bodies of the carpels free, with a common, central, gynobasic style — cf. Ochnaceae); superior. Carpel 2 ovuled. Placentation basal. Ovary (1–)2–4 locular (but the ‘locules’ separated). Gynoecium stylate. Styles 1; ‘gynobasic’ (central). Stigmas 1; punctiform. Placentation basal. Ovules 2 per locule; ascending; apotropous; with ventral raphe (with the micropyles facing outwards); collateral; anatropous.

Fruit unknown.

Geography, cytology. Paleotropical. Tropical. Madagascar.

Taxonomy. Subclass Dicotyledonae; Crassinucelli. Dahlgren’s Superorder Malviflorae; Malvales. Cronquist’s Subclass Dilleniidae; Theales. APG III core angiosperms; core eudicot; Superorder Rosanae; malvid. APG IV Order Malvales (as a synonym of Bixaceae).

Species 1 (Diegodendron humbertii). Genera 1; only genus, Diegodendron.

General remarks. RbcL sequence analyses indicate close affinity with Bixa (Fay et al, 1998). However, comparing this description with that of Bixaceae (q.v.) indicates differences in ten characters, involving phytochemistry as well as floral morphology (the latter mostly concerning androecium and gynoecium).

Illustrations. • Diegodendron humbertii: Munzinger, Flore de Madagascar (2001).

We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, distributions of character states within any set of taxa, geographical distribution, genera included in each family, and classifications (Dahlgren; Dahlgren, Clifford, and Yeo; Cronquist; APG). See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.

Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 1992 onwards. The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 8th June 2026. delta-intkey.com’.

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