Herbs, annual or perennial, or small shrubs or subshrubs, rarely dioecious (not in Australia), glabrous or with indumentum of glandular hairs. Leaves in false whorls; stipules absent. Flowers in seemingly axillary, sessile or pedunculate, umbel- or raceme-like cymes, or flowers solitary; bracts small, membranous or partly herbaceous. Tepals 5, free. Stamens 3–9. Ovary of 3 carpels, with few to numerous ovules; styles 3. Capsule dehiscent with 3 valves. Seeds 3 to numerous, smooth to tuberculate or with curved parallel ridges.
Mollugo differs from other members of Molluginaceae by having a combination of leaves in false whorls, no stipules, and ex-arillate seeds.
About 15 species, native in tropical to warm temperate parts of North and South America; Mollugo verticillata occasionally introduced in Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia.
Lectotype: Mollugo verticillata L., designated by N.L. Britton & A. Brown, An Illustrated Flora of the Northern United States, Canada 2nd edn, 2: 35 (1913).
Taxonomic Synonyms
Galiastrum Fabr., Enumeratio Methodica Plantarum 108 (1759), nom. illeg., nom. superfl., based on Mollugo L.
Glischrothamnus Pilger, Botanische Jahrbücher fur Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie 40: 396 (1908). Type: Glischrothamnus ulei Pilger.
Backer, C.A. (1951). Aizoaceae, in van Steenis, C.G.G.J. (ed.), Flora Malesiana Series I: Spermatophyta Vol. 4: 267–275. (Noordhoff-Kolff N.V.: Jakarta).
Bailey, F.M. (1900). Mollugo, The Queensland Flora 2: 711–712. (H.J. Diddams & Co.: Brisbane).
Bentham, G. (1866). Mollugo, Flora Australiensis 3: 332–334. (Lovell Reeve: London).
Endress, M.E. & Bittrich, V. (1993). Aizoaceae, in Kubitzki, K. (ed.), The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Vol. 2. Flowering plants: Dicotyledons; Magnoliid, Hamamelid and Caryophyllid families, pp. 419–426. (Springer: Berlin).
Jessop, J.P. (1986). Aizoaceae, in Jessop, J.P. & Toelken H.R. (eds), Flora of South Australia 4th edn, 1: 218–236. (South Australian Government Printing Division: Adelaide); Mollugo, p. 202.
Jacobs, S.W.L. & Highet, J. (2000). Aizoaceae, in Harden, G.J. (ed.), Flora of New South Wales Revised Edition, 1: 188–199. (New South Wales University Press: Sydney); Mollugo, p. 190.
Northern Territory Government (2013). FloraNT - Northern Teritory flora online [accessed 27 July 2021]
Ross, E.M. (1984). Aizoaceae, in Stanley, T.D. & Ross, E.M., Flora of South-eastern Queensland 1: 97–102. (Queensland Herbarium, Queensland Department of Primary Industries: Brisbane); Mollugo, p. 102.
Rye, B.L. (1992). Molluginaceae, in Wheeler, J.R. (ed.) et al., Flora of the Kimberley Region, pp. 138–141. (Conservation and Land Management: Perth, W.A.); Mollugo, pp. 140–141.
Short, P.S. (2011). Molluginaceae, in Short, P.S. & Cowie, I.D. (eds), Flora of the Darwin Region 1: 1–7. (Northern Territory Herbarium, Department of Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sport: Darwin).
Tolken, H.R. (1981). Aizoaceae, in J.P. Jessop (ed.), Flora of Central Australia, pp. 35–38. (Reed: Frenchs Forest, Sydney); Mollugo, p. 38.
Thulin, M., Moore, A.J., El-Seedi, H., Larsson, A., Christin, P.-A. & Edwards, E.J. (2016). Phylogeny and generic delimitation in Molluginaceae, new pigment data in Caryophyllales, and the new family Corbichoniaceae. Taxon 65(4): 775–793. https://doi.org/10.12705/654.6
Walsh, N.G. (1996). Molluginaceae, in Walsh, N.G. & Entwisle, T.J. (eds), Flora of Victoria Volume 3. Dicotyledons. Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 226–228. (Inkata Press: North Ryde); Mollugo, p. 226.
Mollugo
gen. nov.
Author - Mats Thulin, Abigail J. Moore, Hesham El-Seedi, Anders Larsson, Pascal-Antoine Christin, Erika J. Edwards
Editor - R.L. Barrett, A.E. Orchard
Contributor - P.G. Kodela (ed. July 2021)
Acknowledgements -
Cite this profile as: Mats Thulin, Abigail J. Moore, Hesham El-Seedi, Anders Larsson, Pascal-Antoine Christin, Erika J. Edwards. Mollugo, in R.L. Barrett, A.E. Orchard (ed.), Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra. https://profiles.ala.org.au/opus/foa/profile/Mollugo [Date Accessed: 24 February 2025]