| | Family guide for fruits and seeds |
Synonyms: Agathidaceae Nakai ex Airy Shaw, nom. inval.; Dammaraceae Link, nom. illeg.
Common name: Araucaria Family.
Number of genera 3. Number of species 39.
Gymnosperm.
Disseminule a cone, or a seed.
Cones
Cone dry; when dry a galbulus (Spjut 3 families: Araucariaceae, Cupressaceae (now including Widdringtonia), Taxodiaceae); globose, or elliptical (barely, in Wollemia); symmetrical; with scales; scales with fused subtending bracts. Fruiting scales present; dry; disintegrating; coriaceous; shedding with seed(s) attached (Araucaria and Wollemia), or not shedding (Agathis).
Seeds
Aril absent. Seed larger than minute; 4–50 mm long; oblong, or ovate; 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 markedly different marginal tissue; without pellicle layer; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; surface unsmooth; surface with merged raised features; surface longitudinally ribbed, or wrinkled; 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; glabrous; Agathis with wing(s), or without wings (Araucaria); 2-winged; with wings on both sides; with wings unequally developed (one developed, one rudimentary); without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; dark brown (all shades); firm, or thick; 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; 1 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve); 0.7–0.9 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; linear; straight; parallel to seed length; embedded in endosperm; with cotyledons gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2 (or in some species appearing as 4 because cotyledons are deeply cleft); well developed; 0.5 times length of embryo; as wide as hypocotyl-radicle; 1 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; partially concealing hypocotyl-radicle; not foliaceous; flat; smooth; with apices entire, or cleft (deeply); with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
New World, Old World. South America (1 sp.), southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania.
Notes
The seed cones distintegrate at maturity, the solitary seed being shed attached to its cone scale, or it may be detached from the scale and dispered with the aid of the well-developed wing.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
ISTA listed seeds.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Agathis australis (D. Don) Steud. -- Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze -- Araucaria araucana (Molina) K. Koch -- Araucaria cunninghamii Aiton ex A. Cunn. -- Araucaria hunsteinii K. Schum.-- 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
Agathis Salisb., nom. cons. -- Araucaria Juss. -- Wollemia W. G. Jones, K. D. Hill & J. M. Allen
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 0 (not present). Jones, W.G., K.D. Hill, & J.M. Allen. 1995. Wollemia nobilis, a new living Australian genus and species in the Araucariaceae. Telopea 6(2–3):173–176; Whitmore, T.C. 1980. A monograph of Agathis. Pl. Syst. Evol. 135:41–69.
General references
Engler, A. 1900–1953. Das Pflanzenreich, nos. 1–107. Facsimile edition. Engelmann-Cramer, Weinheim, 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, Page, C.N. 1990. Coniferophytina (Conifers and Ginkgoids). In: Kubitzki, K., ed., The families and genera of vascular plants, pp. 282–361. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Mabberley, D.J. 1987. The plant-book, 706 p. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Morley, B.D. and H.R. Toelken, eds. 1983. Flowering Plants in Australia, 416 pp. Rigby, Adelaide, Schopmeyer, C.S. 1974. Seeds of Woody plants in the United States. Agric. Handb. 450:1–883, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
Acceptable seed and galbulus illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): "cone", or seed, or embryo. Illustrated "cone": galbulus. "Cone" illustration(s): Engler & Prantl. Seed illustration(s): Schopmeyer, Engler & Prantl, Karen. Embryo illustration(s): Schopmeyer, Karen. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 404: Agathis (alba) dammara (Lamb.) Rich. (A-B), Araurcaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze (C-D).
• Cone. 1 of 8. Agathis australis (D. Don) Steud.: cone. • Scale. 2 of 8. Agathis australis (D. Don) Steud.: scales. • Scale and seed. 3 of 8. Agathis australis (D. Don) Steud.: scale with seed. • Seed. 4 of 8. Agathis australis (D. Don) Steud.: seed. • Seed. 5 of 8. Araucaria bidwillii Hook.: scale with seed. • Seed. 6 of 8. Araucaria bidwillii Hook.: inner integument of seed. • Embryo. 7 of 7. Agathis dammara (Lamb.) Rich.: embryo. • Embryo. 8 of 8. Araucaria angustifolia (Bertol.) Kuntze: 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’.
