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Synonyms: Asaraceae Vent.; Sarumaceae Nakai, nom. nud.
Common name: Birthwort Family.
Number of genera 6. Number of species 410.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or an intact or entire fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; capsule, or carcerulus (Pararistolochia), or follicle (Saruma); ceratium capsule (Aristolochia Spjut, Figs. 18E & 19A), or septicidal capsule (Holostylis); capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; without persistent central column; crowned by rim (calyptra scar), or sepals; not within accessory organ(s); 1-seeded to many-seeded; 2–6-carpellate ((3–5)); with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; without sterile carpels; sulcate; in transection angled, or terete, or cruciform (Thottea); 4-angled; apex not beaked; dehiscent, or indehiscent (rarely). Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent regularly; passively; linearly; by dorsal sutures and ventral sutures; at apex, or base (Thottea); and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp durable; without armature; not smooth; ribbed; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp absent. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; thin, or fleshy; not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; smooth, or not smooth; with ribs; 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, or present; an arillike structure. Arillike structure falling with seed an elaisome (Asarum canadensis L.). Seed larger than minute (from a few mm); triangular, or C-shaped, or elliptic, or oblong, or ovate (broadly); in transection triangular, or flattened (rarely); not bowl shaped, or 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, or smooth (rarely); surface with depressed features, or discreet raised features, or merged raised features; surface grooved; surface tuberculate, or warted, or granular (sparsely & rarely); surface rugose, or corrugate (Thottea siliquosa (Lam.) Ding Hou), or rugose (transversely Asarum canadense L.); 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; with wing(s), or without wings; 1-winged; with wing encompassing seed; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; brown (all shades); crustaceous, or hard; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Raphe conspicuous; corky (including those shaped like a fungus); as long as seed, or longer than seed. Endosperm development cellular; copious; fleshy-firm, or fleshy-soft, or hard (or sub-), or fleshy; smooth; with starch, or without starch; with oils; without fatty acid containing cyclopropene; without apical lobes; without chlorophyll; without isodiametric faceted surface; without odor.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve, or undifferentiated from food reserve; well developed, or rudimentary (classified as linear but tiny and basal); 1 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve); 0.05–0.2 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric, or basal; linear; straight; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons, or acotyledonous. Cotyledons 2; tiny; 0.4 times length of embryo; as wide as hypocotyl-radicle; smooth; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle vestigial, or moderately developed; straight; not thickened. Plumule undeveloped.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan. New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
ISTA listed seeds.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Aristolochia elegans Mast. -- Aristolochia littoralis auct., non D. Parodi = Aristolochia elegans Mast. -- 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
Aristolochia L. -- Asarum L. -- Euglypha Chodat & Hassl. -- Holostylis Duch. -- Pararistolochia Hutch. & Dalziel -- Saruma Oliv. -- Thottea Rottb
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 90. Hou, D. 1981. Florae malesianae praecusrores. LXII. On the genus Thottea (Aristolochiaceae). Blumea 27:301–332; Huber, H. 1985. Samenmerkmale und Gliederung der Aristolochiaceen. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 107:277–320.
General references
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, Gaertner, J. 1788–1805. De fructibus et seminibus plantarum. The Author, Stuttgart, 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. and C.A. Ritchie. 1988. Identification of disseminules listed in the Federal Noxious Weed Act. Techn. Bull. U.S.D.A. 1719:1–313, 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, 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, Wood, C.E., Jr. 1974. A student's atlas of flowering plants: Some dicotyledons of eastern North America, 120 pp. Harper and Row, New York.
Illustrations
Acceptable seed and some fruit illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Wood, Jr., Cronquist. Seed illustration(s): Wood, Jr., Cronquist, Gunn & Ritchie, Hou (1981). Embryo illustration(s): Wood, Jr., Cronquist, Martin, Gunn & Ritchie.
• Seed. 1 of 4. Aristolochia ringens Vahl: seeds. • Fruit. 2 of 4. Asarum canadense L.: fruit. • Seed. 3 of 4. Asarum canadense L.: seeds. • Embryo. 4 of 4. Aristolochia bracteolata Lam.: 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’.
