Coriariaceae
Fls small, 5-merous, us. in racemes; sepals imbricate, persistent; petals keeled on inside. Stamens 10, free, or the petal-opposed ones adnate; anthers large. Carpels free, 5-10, 1-celled; receptacles conical; styles free, elongate. Frs of 5-10 ind. cocci surrounded by the enlarged, succulent petals; ovules solitary in each carpel, pend. Seeds compressed, with thin endosperm and straight embryos. A single genus of some 30 spp.; subshrubs, shrubs, or small trees with quadrangular branchlets, and simple opp. or whorled exstipulate lvs. Dist.-(a) southern Europe, (b) eastern Asia, (c) South and Central America, (d) N.Z. (possibly all endemic). For details see Good (New Phytol. 29, 1930, 196).
Good (loc. cit. 171) emphasizes that "The recognition and discrimination of species within the genus is a matter of extreme difficulty, partly because of the enormous range of continuous variation and the consequent lack of characters of absolute taxonomic value, partly because of the readiness with which hybridisation naturally occurs and partly because of the numerous ecological forms recognisable in the field."
