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Synonyms: Saurauiaceae Griseb., nom. cons.
Common name: Chinese-gooseberry Family.
Number of genera 3. Number of species 355.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or an intact or entire fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Fruit pericarpium; simple; Actinidia & Saurauia & Spjut Fig. 10C-E berry, or capsule; loculicidal capsule; capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; berry indehiscent; berry without central placental mass; without persistent central column; many-seeded; 3–30-carpellate (or more, perhaps many); with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; with carpels remaining connected at style; without sterile carpels; apex not beaked; indehiscent, or dehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp durable; without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present, or absent; fleshy; composed of 1 unified layer; without lactiform cavity system. Endocarp present, or absent; not separating from exocarp; thin (for capsule); not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; stone unilocular; stone 1-loculate; not smooth; without wing; without operculum; without secretory cavities; without mechanism for seedling escape; without grooves; without longitudinal ridges. Funiculus short; short without seed bearing hooks (retinacula); not persisting in fruit after seed shed.
Seeds
Aril Corner quoted Svedelius (1911): Actinidia chinensis seeds have "jacket around seed appears to be the aril", a funicular aril, he also included Saurauia present, or absent (Corner: Actinidia polygama "exarillate". Most authors do not mention an aril.); a true aril; white; well developed; fleshy; encompassing; fleshy. Seed larger than minute; less than 1 mm long, or 1 to less than 5 mm long; 0.7–2.5 mm long; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta present; fleshy. Testa present; with fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; surface unsmooth; surface with merged raised features; 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; brown (all shades); crustaceous; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted. Endosperm development cellular; copious; fleshy-firm (Actinidia and Clematoclethra), or mealy (Saurauia); smooth; without starch; with oils and proteins; without fatty acid containing cyclopropene; without apical lobes; without chlorophyll; without isodiametric faceted surface; without odor.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve); 0.75–0.8 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; linear; straight, or C-shaped (slightly); without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.25–0.5 times length of embryo; as wide as hypocotyl-radicle (or just a little larger); massive; flat; smooth; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Old World. Asia Major, southeastern Asia (eastern especially mountains).
Notes
Goldberg also recognized Saurauiaceae.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Actinidia Lindl. -- Clematoclethra (Franch.) Maxim. -- Saurauia Willd., nom. cons.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 323. Svedelius, N. 1911. Über den Semenbau bei den Gattungen Wormia und Dillenia. Svensk Bot. Tidskr. 5:152–171.
General references
Baillon, H.E. 1866–95. Histoire des plantes, 13 vols. Hachette and Co., Paris, Corner, E.J.H. 1976. The seeds of Dicots, esp. vol. 2. Cambridge University Press, New York, 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, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
No capsule illustrations. Acceptable seed and fleshy fruit illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Spjut [entire & cut open views of Actinidia, but no capsular genera]. Seed illustration(s): Karen. Embryo illustration(s): Karen, Corner, Baillon. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 086: Actinidia arguta Miq. [not finalized], Actinidia coriacea Dunn (A-B), Clematoclethra lasioclada Maxim. (C-D), Saurauia napaulensis [not finalized], Saurauia scabrida ][no author for speciesin INPI (E-F).
• Fruit and seed. 1 of 7. Actinidia callosa Lindl.: fruit and seeds. • Seed. 2 of 7. Actinidia callosa Lindl.: seeds. • Fruit. 3 of 7. Actinidia chinensis Planch.: fruit. • Seed. 4 of 7. Actinidia chinensis Planch.: seeds. • Embryo. 5 of 7. Actinidia rubricaulis var. coriacea (Finet & Gagnep.) C. F. Liang: embryo. • Embryo. 6 of 7. Clematoclethra lasioclada Maxim.: embryo. • Embryo. 7 of 7. Saurauia scabrida Hemsl.: 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’.
