Botanical Family · Malpighiales

Flacourtiaceae

Flacourtia Family

20 speciesOrder Malpighiales8+ well-known plants

The Flacourtiaceae family (Flacourtia Family) is a botanical family placed in the order Malpighiales. In the SASYA catalogue it spans 20 species across 8 genera. Its members are predominantly trees. Well-represented genera include Casearia, Flacourtia and Hydnocarpus. Familiar examples include Wild Cowrie Fruit, Chilla and Kei-apple.

Browse all 20 species ↓

Representative specimen · Flacourtiaceae

Key pattern

Alternate, toothed simple leaves on trees and shrubs frequently armed with straight spines on the trunk or branches; small flowers lack showy petals, relying on numerous stamens instead, and ripen into a berry.

A taxonomically miscellaneous family for otherwise hard-to-place flowering trees — many bear the tart, cherry-like fruit of Flacourtia used in preserves and pickles.

Identify the species

Which Flacourtiaceae species is this?

Answer what you can see and narrow it down to a single Flacourtiaceae species.

Click a node to trace its path · pinch or scroll to zoom · drag to pan

Leaf ShapeWhat is the overall shape of the leaf blade?

Elliptic

Elliptic (widest at middle)

Lanceolate (long, narrow, tapering to a point)

Ovate

Ovate (egg-shaped, broad at base)

HabitWhat is the plant's growth habit?

Shrub

Tree

ArmatureDoes the plant have thorns or spines?

Spiny

Unarmed

ArmatureDoes the plant have thorns or spines?

Spiny

Unarmed

HabitWhat is the plant's growth habit?

Shrub

Tree

ArmatureDoes the plant have thorns or spines?

Spiny

Unarmed

ArmatureDoes the plant have thorns or spines?

Spiny

Unarmed

Family identification method

To check whether a plant belongs to Flacourtiaceae, compare the leaf arrangement, leaf type, flower symmetry, fruit type, and one distinctive marker together. A single feature can mislead; the family pattern is the combination.

Learn the full family-identification method