Burseraceae

  • Family

    Burseraceae (Magnoliophyta)

  • Scientific Name

    Burseraceae

  • Common Names

    Frankincense Family

  • Description

    Number of genera: 16-20

    Number of species: 600

    Description (from PLANTAE): Trees or occasionally shrubs, often with well-developed resin canals in bark. Leaves alternate (spiraly arranged), rarely opposite, pinnately compound or trifoliate, less often unifoliate, stipules rare. Flowers in terminal or axillary racemes or panicles, bisexual or more often unisexual (then usually dioecious), actinomorphic, usually hypogynous; Sepals (3)4-5, mostly basally connate. Petals (3)4 or 5, rarely 0, mostly free. Stamens twice as many as petals, in 1, or more often, two cycles; filaments free or rarely connate; anthers slightly dorsifixed to basifxed, opening by longitudinal slits; staminodes often present in female flowers. Nectary disk intrastaminal or rarely extrastaminal, annular or cupular, usually orange or red. Gynoecium of (2)3-5(12 Beiselia)) united carpels; style with 2-5 lobed or capitate stigma; ovary (2)3-5-locular , with 2 or rarely 1 pendulous ovule per locule. Ovule with ventral raphe and upwardly and outwardly directed microphyle, hemitropous to campylotropous, rarely orthrotropous, bitegmic or rarely unitegmic. Fruits more or less drupaceous with 1-5 one-seeded pyrene or with one plurilocular pyrene, rarely capsules. Seeds with straight or curved embryo and almost without endosperm

    Taxonomic notes (from PLANTAE): Related to Rutales and derived from some ancient rutalean stock

    Distribution (from PLANTAE): This family is pantropical but especially well represented in tropical America and northeastern Africa

  • Sorry, no descriptions available for this record.