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Common name: Sweet Flag Family.
Number of genera 1. Number of species 2 (Acorus calamus L., A. gramineus Sol. ex Ait.).
Angiosperm. Liliopsida.
Disseminule an intact or entire fruit.
Fruits
Pistil(s) 1; 1-pistillate. Fruit pericarpium; simple; berry; berry indehiscent; berry without central placental mass; without persistent central column; within accessory organ(s); within tepals; 1–5(–9)-seeded; with carpels not radiating at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; apex not beaked; wall leathery; indehiscent. Epicarp white; durable; thin; without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; fleshy; composed of 1 unified layer; without lactiform cavity system. Endocarp absent. Funiculus short; short without seed bearing hooks (retinacula); not persisting in fruit after seed shed.
Seeds
Aril absent. Seed larger than minute; oblong to elliptic; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves; with endosperm and perisperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; surface smooth (A. gramineus), or unsmooth (A. calamus); surface with depressed features; surface punctate; 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; brown (all shades) (light); not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo. Endosperm development helobial; copious; without fatty acid containing cyclopropene; without apical lobes; without chlorophyll; without isodiametric faceted surface; without odor.
Perisperm opaque. Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve); 0.75 times the length of food reserve (based on Martin's drawing); at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; linear (A. calamus), or conical (A. gramineus); straight; without coleoptile; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 1 cotyledon. Cotyledons one and not modified into scutellum; not circinately coiled. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed (assumed); straight; not thickened. Plumule moderately developed, or well developed; lateral and not fitting into groove along terminal cotyledon.
Distribution
Pantemperate (probably). Old World and New World. North America, Europe, Africa (??), Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
ISTA listed seeds.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Acorus calamus L. -- Symbols: aagricultural and vegetable seeds (Table 2A Part 1); ttree and shrub species (Table 2A Part 2); fflower, spice, herb, and medicinal seeds (Table 2A Part 3); wweed seeds. -- Last updated September 2008.
Accepted genera
Acorus L.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 1096 (Cronquist & Mabberley have Acorus in Araceae). Mayo, S.J., J. Bogner, & P.C. Boyce. 1997. The genera of Araceae. 370 pp. Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; Seubert, E. 1993. Die Samen der Araceen. Koeltz Scientific Books, Koenigstein, Germany; Grayum, M.H. 1987. A summary of evidence and arguments supporting the removal of Acorus from the Araceae. Taxon 36:723–729.
General references
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, Martin, A.C. 1946. The comparative internal morphology of seeds. Amer. Midl. Naturalist 36:513–660, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Mayo et al. (1997) [individual fruit], Gaertner [head]. Seed illustration(s): Mayo et al. (1997) immature; Seubert (1993). Embryo illustration(s): Martin, Seubert (1993).
• Fruit. 1 of 4. Acorus calamus L.: head with fruits. • Fruit. 2 of 4. Acorus calamus L.: fruits. • Seed. 3 of 4. Acorus calamus L.: seeds. • Embryo. 4 of 4. Acorus calamus L.: 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’.
