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Synonyms: Hydropeltidaceae (DC.) Dumort.
Common name: Water-shield Family.
Number of genera 2. Number of species 8.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule an intact or entire fruit.
Fruits
Pistil(s) simple; 1; 1-pistillate; with (1-)2–18, usually 3 for Cabomba & 12–18 for Brasenia. Fruit anthocarp, or pericarpium; multiple; achenetum (Brasenia Spjut Fig. 4A-B); multiple; diclesetum (Cabomba & 2 families Cabombaceae & Coriariaceae); without persistent central column; within accessory organ(s); within perianth, or sepals (at least Brasenia); (1–)2–18-carpellate (commonly 3 for Cabomba & 12–18 for Brasenia); with carpels separate; with carpels separating at style; without sterile carpels; apex not beaked; wall leathery; indehiscent. Epicarp durable; glabrous (without hairs); with armature, or without armature; with spines; without armature glochidiate; smooth, or not smooth; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; thin; not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; smooth; without wing; without operculum; without secretory cavities; with 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, or perisperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; dull; surface smooth, or unsmooth; surface with merged raised features; surface reticulate; 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; without wings; without collar; with operculum; colored; monochrome; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Endosperm development helobial, or cellular; scant.
Perisperm copious; with starch; opaque. Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve); 0.07 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; basal; lenticular; lenticular, or shield shaped; transverse to seed length; capping one end of perisperm; with cotyledons gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; tiny; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; unequal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle vestigial; straight; much thickened.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan. New World, Old World (Cabomba with 7 spp. of tropical and warm-temperate New World; Brasenia with 1 sp. of tropical and warm-temperature Old and New Worlds). 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: California (CA), Connecticut (CT), Maine (ME), New Hampshire (NH), Puerto Rico (PR), Vermont (VT), Washington (WA).
USA state and territory noxious weeds: -- Brasenia schreberi J. F. Gmel.: USA state noxious weed: PRª. -- Cabomba caroliniana A. Gray: USA state noxious weed: CAª, CTª, MAª, MEª, NHª, PRª, VTª, WAª. -- Cabomba spp.: USA state noxious weed: NHª, PRª. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Brasenia Schreb. -- Cabomba Aubl.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 113.
General references
Baillon, H.E. 1866–95. Histoire des plantes, 13 vols. Hachette and Co., Paris, 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, LeMaout, E. and J. Decaisne. 1876. A general system of botany, 1,065 p. Longmans, Green, and Co., London, 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.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit but no seed illustrations. Cronquist has no illustration. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Karen, Gray, LeMaout & Decaisne, Baillon. Seed illustration(s): Karen, Gray, LeMaout & Decaisne. Embryo illustration(s): Karen, Gray, LeMaout & Decaisne. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 028: Cabomba aquatica Aubl. (A-B), Brasenia schreberi J.F. Gmel (C-D).
• Fruit. 1 of 5. Cabomba aquatica Aubl.: fruits. • Seed. 2 of 5. Cabomba aquatica Aubl.: seed. • Seed. 3 of 5. Cabomba aquatica Aubl.: seed with seed coat removed. • Embryo. 4 of 5. Brasenia schreberi J. F. Gmel.: embryo. • Embryo. 5 of 5. Cabomba aquatica Aubl.: 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’.
