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Salacia 
HIPPOCRATEACEAE 
A family of about 300 species with poorly defined generic limits. As recognised in Australia there 
are 2 genera and 4 species. Only | genus recorded for the NT. [Jessup, 1984b] 
SALACIA L. 
A pantropic genus of c. 150 species with 3 species in Australia; 1 recorded for the DR. 
S. chinensis L. 
Deciduous, glabrous liane or scandent shrub. 
Stipules small. Leaves simple, opposite or 
subopposite; petioles 7-13 mm long; blades 
elliptic to broadly oblong or ovate, 40-150 mm 
long, 20-80 mm wide, L/B 1.6-2.5, entire or serrulate. 
Flowers in axillary fascicles, bisexual, actinomorphic. 
Sepals 5, erose or entire. Petals 4-5, yellowish 
green, 3.5-4.5 mm long. Disc thick and fleshy, lobed, 
reflexed in old flowers. Stamens 3, inside disc 
adjacent to ovary; filaments flattened at base. Ovary 
STACKHOUSIACEAE 
superior, partly immersed in disc, 3-locular with 2 
ovules per locule, placentation axile; stigma sessile. 
Fruit drupaceous, a, orange to red, globular, 13-23 
mm diam. Seed 1. Flowering: July - Oct; fruiting: 
Oct - Dec. Fig. 69 
From India to the Solomons and with disjunct 
occurrences in NE Qld, Cobourg Peninsula and 
Glasswater Creek in the DR, where known from a 
single sterile collection. Coastal monsoon thickets. 
The flowers are reported to have a strong unpleasant 
odour. 
A small family centred in Australia with 3 genera and c. 16 species. Two genera represented in the 
NT with 1 in the DR. [Barker, 1984] 
STACKHOUSIA Smith 
A genus of 14 species with 13 found in Australia; 3 occur in the NT but only | in the DR. 
S. intermedia F.M.Bailey 
S. viminea Smith, misapplied name 
Erect annual to 80 cm high, glabrous or nearly so. 
Stems ribbed. Stipules minute. Leaves sessile, 
alternate, simple, linear, 10-50 mm long, 0.4-2 mm 
wide, L/B 25-35. Inflorescence an interrupted spike 
of small, 1-5-flowered clusters. Flowers bracteate, 
actinomorphic, bisexual. Hypanthium short. Sepals 
5, free, c. 1 mm long. Petals 5, free at base, fused in 
middle, distally free, pale yellowish green, 3-6 mm 
long. Stamens 5, free, 3 long, 2 short, included. Ovary 
superior, 3 carpels united along central axis; ovules 1 
per carpel; style 1; stigmas 3. Fruit c. 2 mm long, of 
3 rugose + globular cocci, each separating and 
sometimes tardily dehiscent along a median suture. 
Flowering and fruiting: Jan - May. Fig. 69 
From Malesia, Micronesia to Australia where it is 
widespread across the subtropical and tropical regions 
and extending into the arid zone. Common in the DR 
in Eucalypt savanna on well drained soils. 
