| | Family guide for fruits and seeds |
Common name: Kapok-tree Family.
Number of genera 30. Number of species 250.
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; Spjut Fig. 7D amphisarcum, or capsule; loculicidal capsule, or septicidal capsule (Septotheca Spjut Fig. 48A); capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); 2–5(–8)-carpellate; with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; without sterile carpels; in transection terete; apex beaked, or not beaked; wall woody (at least); dehiscent, or indehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent regularly; actively; explosively; at apex; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp durable; crustaceous, or rindlike; without armature; without wing(s), or with wing(s) (Cavanillesia hylogeiton Ulbr.); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; fleshy; composed of 1 unified layer; without lactiform cavity system. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; thin; not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; without wing; without operculum; without secretory cavities; without mechanism for seedling escape; without grooves; without longitudinal ridges. Funiculus short; short without seed bearing hooks (retinacula); not persisting in fruit after seed shed.
Seeds
Aril present (Coelostegia, Cullenia, Durio, Neesia); a true aril; brown, or orange, or red, or white, or yellow; well developed; adnate to testa; fleshy; of funicular origin and micropylar origin; basal, or encompassing; does not aid in seed explusion from fruit; waxy; fimbriate-laciniate, or cushionlike, or entire. Seed embedded in hairy endocarp tissue, or pulpy endocarp tissue (commonly for both); larger than minute; 25 to less than 50 mm long; 25–50 mm long; elliptic, or reniform; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves, or without food reserves, or without apparent food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; shiny; with crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle, or without crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle; with notch along margin where cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle tip approaching each other, or without notch along margin where cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle tip approach each other; without glands; without bristles; glabrous, or pubescent (from seed or endocarp? No seed and little fruit data.); without glandular pubescence; without wings, or with wing(s) (Bernoullia); without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; brown (all shades), or black; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo, or surrounding food reserve. Raphe conspicuous. Endosperm development nuclear; scant; fleshy; smooth; with oils.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; completely filling testa (no food reserve), or partially filling testa (with food reserve); 1.7 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; foliate; with spatulate cotyledons; bent, or straight; 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 times length of embryo; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle (slightly); 1 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; partially concealing hypocotyl-radicle, or not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; thin, or thick; plicate, or once-folded, or controtiplicate, or convoluted; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Pantropical (especially rain forest of South America & dry habitats). New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania.
Notes
Cronquist: "Seeds commonly embedded in pithy or hairy tissue derived from the inner endocarp". Epicarp dry crustaceous, within one or more fleshy layers. [Does this mean that layers are mesocarp and endocarp?] At (BARC) fruits have a rindlike epicarp and/or fibrous mesocarp, and thin, nonwoody endocarp.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
ISTA listed seeds.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Adansonia digitata L. -- Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn. -- Durio zibethinus L. -- Ochroma lagopus Sw. = Ochroma pyramidale (Cav. ex Lam.) Urb. -- Ochroma pyramidale (Cav. ex Lam.) Urb. -- 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
Adansonia L. -- Aguiaria Ducke -- Bernoullia Oliv., nom. cons. -- Bombax L., nom. cons. -- Catostemma Benth. -- Cavanillesia Ruiz & Pav. -- Ceiba Mill. -- Chorisia Kunth -- Coelostegia Benth. -- Cullenia Wight -- Durio Adans. -- Eriotheca Schott & Endl. -- Gyranthera Pittier -- Huberodendron Ducke -- Kostermansia Soegeng -- Matisia Bonpl. -- Neesia Blume, nom. cons. -- Neobuchia Urb. -- Ochroma Sw. -- Pachira Aubl. -- Patinoa Cuatrec. -- Phragmotheca Cuatrec. -- Pseudobombax Dugand -- Quararibea Aubl. -- Rhodognaphalon (Ulbr.) Roberty -- Scleronema Benth. -- Septotheca Ulbr. -- Spirotheca Ulbr.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 356.
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., 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, Roosmalen, M.G.M. van. 1985. Fruits of the Guianan flora, 483 pp. Institute of Systematic Botany, Wageningen Agricultural University. Drukkerij Veenman B.V., Wageningen, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
Poor fruit and no seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Gaertner, Roosmalen. Embryo illustration(s): Martin.
• Seed. 1 of 6. Adansonia digitata L.: seeds. • Seed. 2 of 6. Ceiba aesculifolia (Kunth) Britten & Baker subsp. aesculifolia: seeds. • Seed. 3 of 6. Durio zibethinus L.: seed. • Seed. 4 of 6. Pseudobombax grandiflorum (Cav.) A. Robyns: seeds. • Seed. 5 of 6. Septotheca tessmannii Ulbr.: seed. • Embryo. 6 of 6. Ceiba pentandra (L.) Gaertn.: 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’.
