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Common name: Balanops Family.
Number of genera 1. Number of species 9.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule an intact or entire fruit, or an incomplete fruit with epicarp and mesocarp absent and endocarp exposed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit anthocarp, or pericarpium; simple; drupe (of authors, but not Spjut); simple; glans (& acornlike); without persistent central column; within accessory organ(s); within involucre (resembling a fleshy-walled acorn and cup and embracing 1–21 pyrenes), or cupule (formed by fleshy petals according to Cronquist & Goldberg, but a fleshy calyx according to Mabberley); more than 1 but less than 10-seeded; 2–3-seeded; from 1–5 cm long; 1.3 cm long; 2–3-carpellate; with carpels united; without sterile carpels; apex not beaked; indehiscent. Epicarp yellow, orange, and brown (all shades); durable; without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; thin and fleshy; composed of 1 unified layer; without lactiform cavity system. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; chartaceous and fibrous, or thin and fleshy; splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; stone unilocular; stone 1-loculate; without wing; without operculum; without secretory cavities; without mechanism for seedling escape; 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; without glands; without bristles; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Endosperm scant; 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); 0.9 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; foliate; straight (more or less); without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.8–0.9 times length of embryo; massive (and succulent); smooth; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Old World. Southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania (to Fiji).
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Balanops Baill.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 222.
General references
Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, Flora of Australia (various years and volumes). Australian Government Publication, Canberra, 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.
Illustrations
Poor fruit, no seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or fruit incomplete, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Flora of Australia Vol. 3. Fruit illustration(s): Karen. Embryo illustration(s): Karen. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 060: Balanops balansae Baill. (A-B).
• Fruit and seed. 1 of 2. Balanops balansae Baill.: seed and fruit with calyx. • Embryo. 2 of 2. Balanops balansae Baill.: 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’.
