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Common name: Alseuosmia Family.
Number of genera 3. Number of species 9 (Karehed et al. (1999)).
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
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; not within accessory organ(s); 1-seeded to many-seeded; 4(–13)-seeded; less than 1 cm long to from 1–5 cm long; 0.4–2 cm long; 2-carpellate; with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; with carpels remaining connected at style; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; apex not beaked; indehiscent. Epicarp red (and crimson), or blue, or black; durable; glabrous (without hairs), or not glabrous (with hairs) (puberulous when young Crispiloba disperma (S. Moore) Steenis); hairs not glandular; 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; 5 to less than 10 mm long; to 8 mm long; in transection flattened; 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 and ridged (one on each side); 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; black; bony; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Endosperm copious; fleshy; smooth; 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); 0.1 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric, or basal; miniature; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons (assumed). Cotyledons 2 (assumed); scarcely differentiated; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle vestigial; straight; not thickened. Plumule undeveloped.
Distribution
Old World. Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania (only New Zealand).
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Alseuosmia A. Cunn. -- Crispiloba Steenis -- Wittsteinia F. Muell. -- (Karehed et al. (1999) accepted Periomphale Baill. as a good genus, but Mabberley (1997) and GRIN synonymize it under Wittsteinia)
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 565. Hooker, J.D. 1852. Fl. nov.-zel. vol. 1, plates 23, 24, & 25; Kårehed, J., J. Lundberg, B. Bremer, & K. Bremer. 1999. Evolution of the Australasian families Alseuosmiaceae, Argophyllaceae, and Phellinaceae. Syst. Bot. 24:660–682; Steenis, C.G.G.J. van. 1984. A synopsis of Alseuosmiaceae in New Zealand, New Caledonia, Australia, and New Guinea. Blumea 29:387–394; Mueller, F. 1862. The plants indigenous to the colony of Victoria. 1: plate 51. John Ferres, Melbourne; Mueller, F. 1885. Key to system of Victorian plants, vol. 2. John Ferres, Melbourne.
General references
Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, Engler, A. and K. Prantl. 1924 and onward. Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilimien. W. Engelman, Leipzig, 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
Acceptable fruit and seed illustrations. Cronquist has no illustration. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Mueller (1864–65), Steenis (1984). Seed illustration(s): Mueller (1864–65), Steenis (1984). Embryo illustration(s): Engler & Prantl, Mueller (1864–65).
• Fruit and seed. 1 of 2. Alseuosmia macrophylla A. Cunn.: fruit and seeds. • Embryo. 2 of 2. Alseuosmia linariifolia A. Cunn.: 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’.
