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Common name: Bretschneidera Family.
Number of genera 1. Number of species 1 (Bretschneidera sinensis Hemsl.).
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; ascade (of Doweld (1996), not carcerulus of Spjut); loculicidal ascade; without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); 1-seeded; 1-seeded; from 1–5 cm long; 4–4.5 cm long; (2–)3-carpellate; with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; in transection terete; dehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent regularly; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp green; durable; not glabrous (with hairs); hairs not glandular; without armature; not smooth; lenticulate; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; hard (bony); composed of 2 distinct layers; with bony layer over fleshy layer; without lactiform cavity system. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; pliable and fibrous; not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; 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. Seed larger than minute; 10 to less than 25 mm long; 12–15 mm long; in transection terete; 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; surface smooth; 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; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; red; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo, or surrounding food reserve. Hilum larger than punctate; elliptic. 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; completely filling testa (no food reserve), or nearly filling testa (trace or scanty food reserve); at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; straight; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; partially concealing hypocotyl-radicle; thick; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally cordate; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle vestigial to moderately developed (very short); not thickened.
Distribution
Old World. Asia Major and southeastern Asia (China: eastern & southeastern mountains, Thailand, Vietnam).
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Bretschneidera Hemsl.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 794. Doweld, A.B. 1996a. The carpology and taxonomic relationships of Bretschneidera (Bretschneideraceae). Acta Bot. Malac. 21:79–90; Tobe, H. & C.-I. Peng. 1990. The embryology and taxonomic relationships of Bretschneidera (Bretschneideraceae). Bot. J. Linn. Soc. 103:139–152; Chen, W.-Q., Y.-Z. Ruan, S.-H. Fu, & K.-T. Fu. 1984. Bretschneidera. In: Flora Reipublicae Popularis Sinicae, vol. 34(1):8–10. Science Press, Peking.
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, 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, 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): Doweld (1996). Seed illustration(s): Karen, Doweld (1996), Tobe & Peng (1960). Embryo illustration(s): Karen, Doweld (1996), Tobe & Peng (1960). Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 251: Bretschneidera sinensis Hemsley (A-B).
• Fruit. 1 of 4. Bretschneider sinensis Hemsl.: fruit with exocarp removed. • Fruit. 2 of 4. Bretschneider sinensis Hemsl.: fruit exocarp. • Seed. 3 of 4. Bretschneider sinensis Hemsl.: seed. • Embryo. 4 of 4. Bretschneider sinensis Hemsl.: 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’.
