Author: Stapf
Morphological description (Sympet unijuga fl branch FM51 )
Trees buttressed.
Leaves once-pinnate and (1 or)2(or 3)-jugate, or bipinnate with 1-3 pairs of pinnae, each pinna with 1-6-pairs of leaflets. Stipules minute, caducous. Leaflets opposite or subopposite, pellucid-punctate.
Inflorescences axillary and/or terminal, racemose, simple or fascicled, or paniculate; bracts persistent beyond anthesis; bracteoles absent at anthesis.
Flowers bisexual, calyx and corolla pellucid-glandular. Hypanthium obscure or absent. Calyx shortly campanulate, 5-lobed. Petals 5, widely imbricate, shortly connate at the base. Disk absent, except present in one species (Sympetalandra schmutzii ). Stamens 10, alternatively long and short, free of one another, adnate with petals at the base, glabrous; anthers dorsifixed, introrse, ellipsoid or oblong, with a large, dorsal, dark brown connective, and a deciduous gland at apex. Ovary sessile or stipitate, free, mostly spindle-shaped, hairy, 2-6-ovuled; style tortuous or straight; stigma small.
Pods becoming distinctly woody, dehiscent and two-valved, compressed, prominently veined, 1-4-seeded.
Seeds orbicular to broadly ellipsoid, compressed but thick, large (3-3.5 cm in diameter), with a hard-coriaceous testa; 2 massive cotyledons; exalbuminous.
Distribution
Species 5, only known in Malesia : Sumatra, Malay Peninsula, Borneo, Philippines, Lesser Sunda Islands (Flores): Sympetalandra borneensis , Sympetalandra densiflora , Sympetalandra hildebrandii , Sympetalandra schmutzii , andSympetalandra unijuga .
Note
The present treatment of Sympetalandra was mainly compiled after the comprehensive revision made by van Steenis (1975: 161).