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Common name: Acharia Family.
Number of genera 3. Number of species 3.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; capsule; septicidal capsule; capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; without persistent central column; 3–5-carpellate; with carpels not radiating at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; dehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent regularly; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp durable; without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp absent. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; thin; not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; without operculum; without secretory cavities; without longitudinal ridges. Funiculus short; short without seed bearing hooks (retinacula); not persisting in fruit after seed shed.
Seeds
Aril present; a true aril; white; well developed; dry (assumed); marginal. Seed larger than minute; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; surface unsmooth; surface with depressed features, or merged raised features; surface grooved, or pitted; surface reticulate; without crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle; without notch along margin where cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle tip approach each other; without glands; without bristles; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Endosperm copious; smooth; without fatty acid containing cyclopropene; without apical lobes; without chlorophyll; without isodiametric faceted surface; without odor.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 2 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve); 0.3 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; foliate, or linear (somewhat foliate); with spatulate cotyledons; straight; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; as wide as hypocotyl-radicle, or somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle (a little wider though - Goldberg: "cotyledons not broadened", but see seed dissection drawing in Hooker [12] of Guthriea capensis. Compare the former to seed dissection drawing of Baillon of Acharia trigioides with linear axile embryo about 0.2 the length of endosperm); smooth; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed; not thickened.
Distribution
Old World. Africa (South Africa).
Notes
Cronquist: "Seeds grooved or pitted" & pitted probably is same as our reticulate, but what does grooved mean?.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Acharia Thunb. -- Ceratiosicyos Nees -- Guthriea Bolus
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 415. Harvey, W. H. 1839. On two South African genera of the natural order Passiflorae. Ann. Nat. Hist. 3:420–423 & plate 9.
General references
Baillon, H.E. 1866–95. Histoire des plantes, 13 vols. Hachette and Co., Paris, Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, Goldberg, A. 1986 (dicots) and 1989 (monocots). Classification, evolution, and phylogeny of the familes of Dicotyledons. Smithsonian Contr. Bot. 58 for dicots (314 pp.) and 71 for monocots (74 pp.). [Goldberg's illustrations are reproduced from older publications and these should be consulted], Gunn, C.R., J.H. Wiersema, C.A. Ritchie, and J.H. Kirkbride, Jr. 1992 and amendments. Families and genera of Spermatophytes recognized by the Agricultural Research Service. Techn. Bull. U.S.D.A. 1796:1–500, Hooker, J.D. 1873 and forward. Icones Plantarum. William & Norgate, London. (plate number cited in text within [ ]), Mabberley, D.J. 1987. The plant-book, 706 p. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Martin, A.C. 1946. The comparative internal morphology of seeds. Amer. Midl. Naturalist 36:513–660.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and seed illustrations. Cronquist has no illustration. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Seed illustration(s): Harvey (1839), Baillon, Hooker [1161]. Embryo illustration(s): Hooker [1161].
• Fruit. 1 of 5. Acharia tragodes Thunb.: dehisced fruit with calyx. • Seed. 2 of 5. Acharia tragodes Thunb.: seed. • Fruit and seed. 3 of 5. Ceratiosicyos laevis (Thunb.) A. Meeuse: dehisced fruit and seeds. • Seed. 4 of 5. Ceratiosicyos laevis (Thunb.) A. Meeuse: seeds. • Embryo. 5 of 5. Acharia tragodes Thunb.: embryo.
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘J.H. Kirkbride, Jr., C.R. Gunn, and M.J. Dallwitz. 2000 onwards. Family guide for fruits and seeds: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 12th April 2021. delta-intkey.com’.
