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Common name: Aloe Family.
Number of genera 8. Number of species 565.
Angiosperm. Liliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or an intact or entire fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) 1; 1-pistillate. Fruit pericarpium; simple; capsule, or berry (Lomtophyllum, but not Spjut)); loculicidal capsule; capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; berry dehiscent (Lomtophyllum); berry without central placental mass; without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); 3-carpellate; with carpels remaining united at maturity; with carpels remaining connected at style; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; apex not beaked; dehiscent, or indehiscent. Dehiscent 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; 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 absent. 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 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; with wing(s); 1-winged; with wing encompassing seed (seed flat); without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Endosperm copious; hard; with hemicellulose, proteins, and oils; 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); 0.8–0.9 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; foliate; straight; without coleoptile; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 1 cotyledon. Cotyledons one and terminal with lateral plumule; not modified into scutellum; not circinately coiled. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed; straight; not thickened. Plumule moderately developed, or well developed; lateral and not fitting into groove along terminal cotyledon (assumed).
Distribution
Old World. Africa (best developed in South), Asia Minor.
Notes
Family not recognize by Goldberg.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
ISTA listed seeds.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Aloe barbadensis Mill. = Aloe vera (L.) Burm. f. (other family classification = Asphodelaceae) -- Aloe vera (L.) Burm. f. (other family classification = Asphodelaceae) -- 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
Aloe L. -- Astroloba Uitewaal -- Chortolirion A. Berger -- Gasteria Duval -- Haworthia Duval, nom. cons. -- Kniphofia Moench, nom. cons. -- Lomatophyllum Willd. -- Poellnitzia Uitewaal
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 1215.
General references
Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, 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, Mabberley, D.J. 1987. The plant-book, 706 p. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
No fruit and acceptable seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): seed, or embryo. Seed illustration(s): Karen. Embryo illustration(s): Karen. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 373: Aloe ferox Mill. (A-B), Gasteria croucheri (Hook. f.) Baker (C-D), Haworthia attenuata (Haw.) Haw. (E-F), Kniphofia hybrid (G-H) [in GRIN], Kniphofia (Tritoma) uvaria (L.) Hook. (I-J).
• Seed. 1 of 15. Aloe krapohliana Marloth: winged seed. • Seed. 2 of 15. Aloe krapohliana Marloth: seeds with wing removed and winged seed. • Seed. 3 of 15. Aloe longistyla Baker: seed. • Seed. 4 of 15. Aloe longistyla Baker: seeds with wings removed. • Seed. 5 of 15. Gasteria croucheri (Hook. f.) Baker: seeds. • Fruit and seed. 6 of 15. Kniphofia caulescens Baker ex Hook. f.: dehisced fruit and seeds. • Fruit. 7 of 15. Kniphofia uvaria (L.) Oken: dehisced fruit with calyx. • Seed. 8 of 15. Kniphofia uvaria (L.) Oken: seeds. • Fruit. 9 of 15. Aloe aldabrense (Marais) L. E. Newton & G. D. Rowley: fruit. • Seed. 10 of 15. Aloe aldabrense (Marais) L. E. Newton & G. D. Rowley: seeds. • Embryo. 11 of 15. Aloe ferox Mill.: embryo. • Embryo. 12 of 15. Gasteria croucheri (Hook. f.) Baker: embryo. • Embryo. 13 of 15. Haworthia attenuata (Haw.) Haw.: embryo. • Embryo. 14 of 15. Kniphofia hybrid: embryo. • Embryo. 15 of 15. Kniphofia uvaria (L.) Oken: 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’.
