29. Ledermanniella Engler
Ledermanniella Engler, Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 43: 378 (1909); Cusset, Adansonia II, 14: 271--275 (1974), rev.; Cusset, Bull. Mus. Natn. Hist. Natn. Paris IV. Sect. B. Adansonia 5: 361--390 (1983), rev.; Cusset, op. cit., 6: 249--278 (1984), rev.
Inversodicraeia Engler ex R. E. Fries (1914).
Monandriella Engler (1926).
Sphaerothylax Bischoff ex Krauss (1844), pro parte.
Roots ribbon-like or crustose; stems rudimentary to well developed, erect, simple or branched, from very short to 1 m or more long. Leaves very variable, simple, lobed or forked, linear with thread-like segments, or scale-like, imbricate, with entire or toothed margins and sometimes with apical teeth; imbricate scales and elongate leaves often develop on same stem in subgenus Phyllosoma. Spathellas opening irregularly at tip. Flowers inverted within unruptured spathella, solitary or sometimes in sessile or stalked clusters; tepals 2, linear or filiform, one each side of solitary filament or andropodium base; stamens 1 or 2 (3), either single or borne on an andropodium; andropodium usually more than 1 mm long, usually exceeding ovary at anthesis; pollen in monads or dyads. Ovaries 1-locular. Capsules ovoid to ellipsoidal or fusiform, with all ribs running entire length of capsule; valves unequal or rarely equal, each with 3 ribs; one or both valves persistent; stigmas linear, spreading or reflexed. About 46 spp., tropical Africa, most in C & West Africa. Molecular data indicate that this is not a natural genus (Moline et al. 2005); perhaps it should incorporate Dicraeanthus, Djinga & Macropodiella, or it should be split into smaller entities.
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