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Synonyms: Anrederaceae J. Agardh; Ullucaceae Nakai
Common name: Basella Family.
Number of genera 4. Number of species 15.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule an intact or entire fruit.
Fruits
Pistil(s) simple, or compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit anthocarp; simple; acrosarcum (Basella alba L.), or diclesium (Ullucus tuberosus Caldas); without persistent central column; within accessory organ(s); within perianth (Basella alba L.), or sepals (Ullucus tuberosa Caldas with drawings & of Anredea); 3-carpellate (becoming at maturity 1-carpeled with 1 seed); with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; apex not beaked; indehiscent. Epicarp durable; without armature; with wing(s), or without wing(s); 2-winged (Anredera); with wing(s) lateral; without apical respiratory hole. Endocarp absent. Funiculus short; short without seed bearing hooks (retinacula); not persisting in fruit after seed shed.
Seeds
Aril absent. Seed larger than minute; circular; in transection terete; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves; with perisperm, or 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; membranous; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo. Raphe inconspicuous. Endosperm development nuclear.
Perisperm copious, or scanty (Basella with coiled embryo); with starch; with starch composed of clustered grains; opaque. Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve); at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; peripheral; flatly coiled (circinate), or annular; 90% annular, or 100% annular, or 150% annular; with cotyledons gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.5–0.7 times length of embryo; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; foliaceous; moderately thick; circinate; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed; coiled; not thickened.
Distribution
Pantropical and pansubtropical. New World, Old World (mostly New World). North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania.
Weed information
1 or more USA state noxious weeds.
USA states and territories with listed noxious weeds: Hawaii (HI).
USA state and territory noxious weeds: -- Anredera cordifolia (Ten.) Steenis: USA state noxious weed: HI●. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
Listed seeds
ISTA listed seeds.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Basella alba L. -- Ullucus tuberosus Caldas -- 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
Anredera Juss. -- Basella L. -- Tournonia Moq. -- Ullucus Caldas
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 269.
General references
Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, 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, 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): Gunn & Ritchie, Karen, LeMaout & Decaisne. Seed illustration(s): Gunn & Ritchie. Embryo illustration(s): Gunn & Ritchie, Karen, LeMaout & Decaisne. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 073: Basella (rubra) alba L. (A-C), Anredera (Boussingaultia) diffusa (Moq.) Sperling (D-F), Ullucus tuberosus Celdas (G-I).
• Fruit. 1 of 6. Basella alba L.: fruits. • Seed. 2 of 6. Basella alba L.: seed. • Embryo. 3 of 6. Anredera diffusa (Moq.) Sperling: embryo. • Embryo. 4 of 6. Basella alba L.: embryo. • Embryo. 5 of 6. Anredera cordifolia (Ten.) Steenis: embryo. • Embryo. 6 of 6. Ullucus tuberosus Caldas: 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’.
