Commersonia
Trees, shrubs or subshrubs, prostrate to erect, stellate-hairy. Leaves simple, entire, toothed or lobed, venation pinnate, petiolate; stipules caducous or somewhat persistent. Flowers bisexual, in leaf-opposed cymes (sometimes initially appearing axillary); bracteoles absent. Calyx petaloid, 5-lobed, pubescent; petals 5, mainly shorter than the calyx, with a broad base, embracing the stamens; stamens 5, united basally, opposite the petals, sublatrorse; staminodes 5, entire or 3-lobed, central or only staminode petaloid, stellate-hairy; ovary sessile, 5-locular, each loculus with 2–6 ovules; styles 5, free (often twisted together), stigmas united. Capsule opening into 5 valves, stellate-hairy and bearing bristles.
25 species, predominantly Australian, with 4 species in South-east Asia and on Pacific Islands, and 1 from Madagascar.
Short, P.S. (1996). Sterculiaceae. In: Walsh, N.G.; Entwisle, T.J., Flora of Victoria Vol. 3, Dicotyledons Winteraceae to Myrtaceae, pp. 324–331. Inkata Press, Melbourne.
SpinningWilkins, C.F.; Whitlock, B.A (2011). A revision of Commersonia including Rulingia (Malvaceae s.l. or Byttneriaceae). *Australian Systematic Botany * 24(5): 226–283.
