Balsaminaceae A.Rich.

Balsaminaceae, E. Launert. Flora Zambesiaca 2:1. 1963

Morphology General Habit

Herbs, often with a suffrutescent habit, sometimes epiphytic, sometimes aquatic, glabrous or with an indumentum of simple hairs; stems herbaceous, succulent or rarely woody

Morphology Leaves

Leaves simple, petiolate or sessile, verticillate or opposite or spirally arranged, pinnately veined with margins crenulate or serrate or denticulate and often with glanduliferous (tentacle-like) hairs; exstipulate or with stipular glands

Morphology Reproductive morphology Inflorescences

Inflorescences usually axillary, more rarely of terminal racemes or pseudumbels or fascicles, or flowers solitary

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers

Flowers bisexual, sometimes cleistogamous (often in certain species with both normal and cleistogamous ones in the same inflorescence), always zygomorphic

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx

Sepals 3, rarely 5, deciduous, imbricate; the posterior one (apparently anterior in position by resupination) petaloid, large, funnel-shaped, obliquely navicular or bucciniform, nearly always with a nectariferous spur; the lateral ones usually small, green or coloured

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla

Petals 5; the anterior one (apparently posterior in position in the mature flower) always large, flat or helmet-shaped, often dorsally carinate; the 4 lower ones usually connate in lateral pairs, very rarely free, usually deeply 2-lobed, rarely with the posterior lobe reduced to a small auricle

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium

Stamens 5, alternating with the petals; filaments flattened, connate above, closely attached to the ovary; anthers 2-thecous, connate or coherent, thus forming a crown round the ovary

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium

Ovary superior, of 5 carpels, 5-locular, with axile placentation; ovules pendulous, anatropous, 3-many in a row on each placenta; style 1, usually very short; stigmas 1–5

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Fruit a 5-valved loculicidal capsule, with the valves opening elastically and coiling, rarely a berry (in the Asiatic genus Hydrocera)

Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds

Seeds without endosperm; embryo straight

Balsaminaceae, Hutchinson and Dalziel. Flora of West Tropical Africa 1:1. 1954

Morphology General Habit

Succulent herbs; leaves alternate or opposite, simple, penninerved; stipules absent

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers

Flowers zygomorphic, hermaphrodite, brightly coloured, solitary to subumbellate

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx

Sepals 3, rarely 5, coloured, imbricate, unequal, the lowermost hollowed out into a spur

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla

Petals 3, the upper one outside, usually erect, concave, the lateral ones often 2-lobed

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium

Stamens 5; filaments short and broad; anthers 2-celled, connate around the ovary

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium

Ovary superior, 5-celled, with axile placentas; stigmas 1–5, more or less sessile; ovules numerous

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Fruit a succulent capsule, opening elastically into 5 twisted valves

Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds

Seeds without endosperm and with straight embryo

Balsaminaceae, C. Grey-wilson. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1993

Morphology General Habit

Annual or perennial herbs, sometimes with a tuberous or rhizomatous rootstock, occasionally subshrubby, sometimes epiphytic or semi-aquatic, usually growing in moist places in partial or complete shade, but never in dry places; stems usually succulent, rarely woody below, glabrous or pilose, upright or procumbent, often rooting at the lower nodes

Morphology Leaves

Leaves simple, petiolate to sometimes sessile, spirally arranged, opposite or verticillate, pinnately veined, glabrous or pilose (hairs simple, multicellular); margins crenate, dentate or serrate, the teeth often with glanduliferous appendages, these sometimes fimbriate or filiform towards the base of the lamina; petiole occasionally with short capitate glands or fimbriae (extra-floral nectaries), usually in the upper half; exstipulate or with simple or branched glandular stipule-like structures

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers

Flowers (fig. 1) bisexual, zygomorphic, resupinate through 180°, in simple or pseudoumbellate racemes forming axillary, rarely subterminal, inflorescences, or flowers often epedunculate, fascicled or solitary; bracts entire, rarely toothed; bracteoles occasionally present

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Calyx

Sepals 3, rarely 5, the lateral ones small, entire or toothed, the lower one (lower by resupination) large, navicular, funnel-shaped or saccate, tapering or abruptly constricted into a nectariferous spur which may be short- or long-filiform, straight, curved or incurved, or ± coiled, swollen at the tip or pointed, rarely bilobed or digitately lobed, often coloured

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Corolla

Petals 5, usually coloured, sometimes white, thin and sappy; the dorsal one (dorsal by resupination) small or large, flat or cucullate, often crested dorsally; lower petals free or united into lateral pairs at or below the middle (the lateral-united petals), the petals of each pair overlapping or with a narrow or wide sinus between them, the upper petals bilobed, emarginate or entire, as large as the lower petals or smaller, sometimes reduced to a tiny lobe, the lower petals seldom reduced, usually large or showy, bilobed, emarginate or entire, sometimes asymmetrically bilobed, the inner lobe occasionally drawn out into a long tapering appendage, sometimes emarginate along the inner margin

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Androecium

Stamens 5, alternating with the petals, connate or subconnate into a ring surrounding the ovary and stigma, falling off in one piece before the stigma ripens

Morphology Reproductive morphology Flowers Gynoecium

Ovary superior, 5-locular, with exile placentation; ovules anatropous, 3–many; style 1, very short or ± absent; stigmas 1–5

Morphology Reproductive morphology Fruits

Fruit a berry or a 5-valved loculicidal fleshy explosive capsule, the valves opening and coiling elastically to expel the seeds, glabrous or variously pubescent

Morphology Reproductive morphology Seeds

Seed without endosperm, the testa smooth, warted or with simple, 1–many celled, hairs