ZALEYA

Zaleya Burm. f., Fl. Ind. 110, t. 31. 1768; Jeffrey, Fl. Trop. E. Afr. 28. 1961; Fl. Pak. @eFloras.org

Usually prostrate annual or perennial herbs. Leaves opposite, petiolate, lanceolate or oblanceolate, narrowly or broadly elliptic or ovate, entire, slightly succulent. Stipules absent. Flowers in axillary globose clusters, subsessile, bisexual, actinomorphic, hypogynous. Calyx gamosepalous; tube short; lobes 5, margins membranous, coloured inside, green outside, lobes with subapical abaxial spur/mucro. Petals absent. Stamens 5–15, free, inserted in the upper part of the calyx tube. Carpels 2, syncarpous; ovary superior, 2-locular, 2 ovules per loculus attached to interlocular septum; styles 2, free. Fruit a 4-seeded capsule, dehiscing by means of a 2-valved operculum.

6 species

Zaleya pentandra

Zaleya pentandra (L.) Jeffrey, Kew Bull. 14(2): 238. 1960; Trianthema govindia Buch.-Ham. ex G. Don, Gen. Hist. 3:72. 1834: T. pentandra L., Mant. Pl. 70. 1767: Zaleya govindia (Buch.-Ham. ex G. Don) Nair, Bull. Bot. Surv. Ind. 8: 86. 1966.

A diffuse prostrate perennial much branched herb, young stem purplish. Stem papillose (or glabrous); internodes 3-4 cm. Leaves alternate or opposite, unequal pairs; 2.5-4.0 cm x 0.6-2.7 cm, oblong to obovate, papillose; petiole 8-12 mm long with an adaxial groove; apex obtuse, emarginate, mucronate; base rounded. Flowers many in +/- globose clusters, axillary, 5 mm across, subsessile (pedicel 0.5 mm); bracts ovate-lanceolate, ca. 4 mm long; bracteoles 2-3, unequal, scarious. Calyx 5, fused at base, persistent, papillose; lobes ca. 2 mm long, oblong-ovate, with subapical abaxial spur, margin white, membranous. Petals absent. Stamens 5, alternating with sepals, filaments ca. 2 mm long, branched, dilated at base; anthers 0.3-0.4 mm; dorsifixed. Bicarpellary syncarpous; ovary ca. 2 mm long, obpyramidal, papillose, thick walled, red, bilocular, placentation axile, 2 ovules in each loculus; style 2, 1-2 mm long, linear, slightly curved, persistent. Pyxidium 1.4-5 mm long, 4-seeded, splitting longitudinally, lid mitriform, ca. 2 mm broad, margin irregularly lobed; amphora 2-seeded. Seeds 1.5 mm long, black, rugose.

Flowering and Fruiting: April to October
Common Names: Five-stamen Horse Purslane, African Purslane; Itsit (Hindi)