ernest5h's Identifications

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" The uniquely complex floral morphology of Ayeniamakes identifying the basic parts of the flowers a challenge even for trained botanists. The flowers are born terminally or axillary and are very small (<1cm in length). The flowers appear like parachutes or lanterns in profile. The sepals are reflexed and the petals are inserted at the base of the flower, but sweep out and up to become postgenitally fused to the distal end of the androgynophore. The petals are filamentous at the base and for most of their length. They broaden at the distal end to form a roughly triangular, rectangular, or rhomboidal surface. Many species have a small appendage protruding from the abaxial surface of the petal. The filamentous base is often referred to as the claw, and the broadened apex as the lamina (Dorr, 1996). The adaxial surface of the lamina has various protrusions described as teeth, lobes, or wings that fit into the apex of the staminal column and have been used to delimit sections in the genus. The petals alternate with staminodes at the point of attachment to the staminal column, and the anthers are opposite the petals, directly under the lamina." Van Sharber, 2018