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Synonyms: Cleomaceae Bercht. & J. Presl; Koeberliniaceae Engl.; Oxystylidaceae Hutch.; Pentadiplandraceae Hutch. & Dalziel; Stixaceae Doweld
Common name: Caper Family.
Number of genera 34 (See Notes). Number of species 674 (See Note).
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, or schizocarp; amphisarcum, or berry (Koeberlinia), or bilomentum (Maerua angolensis DC. & 4 families Brassicaceae, Capparaceae, Papaveraceae (listed as Fumariaceae), Goodeniaceae), or drupe (Stixis (as Roydsia)), or urticle (not Spjut), or capsule; achenarium; ceratium capsule (Spjut Fig. 19C); capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; berry indehiscent; berry without central placental mass; without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); 2(–12)-carpellate; with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; without sterile carpels; apex beaked, or not beaked; dehiscent, or indehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent regularly; actively; elastically; and shedding seeds; without replum, or with replum; fruit without centered partition attached to replum, or with thin centered partition attached to replum. Epicarp black, or brown (all shades); durable; without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present, or absent. Endocarp present, or absent; not separating from exocarp; thin; not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; smooth; 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 absent. Seed larger than minute; 1 to less than 5 mm long, or 5 to less than 10 mm long; 2.5–6 mm long; reniform, or angular; in transection compressed; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves; with endosperm and perisperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present, or absent (seeds often sunken in pulpy flesh of fruit); without embryo surrounded and capped by viscid tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; surface unsmooth; surface with discreet raised features, or merged raised features; surface tuberculate; surface laterally ribbed, or ridged, or striate; with crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle; with notch along margin where cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle tip approaching each other; without glands; without bristles; glabrous; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; brown (all shades), or black; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted. Endosperm development nuclear; scant; fleshy; smooth; with oils; without fatty acid containing cyclopropene; without apical lobes; without chlorophyll; without isodiametric faceted surface; without odor.
Perisperm often scanty; opaque. 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; bent, or flatly coiled (circinate), or annular, or arcuate; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; with cotyledons containing oils; with stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.3–0.7 times length of embryo; 1 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; accumbent to hypocotyl-radicle, or incumbent to hypocotyl-radicle; moderately thick; once-folded, or twice-folded, or circinate, or flat (rarely); smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed; curved; not thickened.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan. New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania.
Notes
Cronquist: Arillate for three genera now moved to other families: Emblingia - Emblingiaceae; Physena - Physenaceae; Calyptrotheca - Portulacaceae. Iltis (1999) moved Setchellanthus to its own family, Setchellanthaceae. Hence the reduction of Capparaceae by 1 genus & 1 species. Goldberg recognized Capparaceae & Pentadiplandraceae. Unlike Brassicaceae, Capparaceae usually does not have a partition in the capsule. Capparoideae: Fruit indehiscent berry or drupe without replum - Capparis etc.; Cleomoideae: Fruit dehiscent cruciferous silique with replum - Cleome etc.; Podandrogynoideae: Fruit dehiscent capsule with no replum - Podandrogne; Dipterygioideae: Fruit 1–2-seeded nutlet or samara - Dipterygium.
Weed information
1 or more USA state noxious weeds.
USA states and territories with listed noxious weeds: Puerto Rico (PR).
USA state and territory noxious weeds: -- Cleome viscosa L.: USA state noxious weed: PR●. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
Listed seeds
ASOA listed seeds, ISTA listed seeds.
ASOA listed seeds: -- Cleome hassleriana Chodat -- Cleome lutea Hook. -- Cleome serrulata Pursh -- Polanisia Raf. spp. -- Last updated September 2008.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Cleome hassleriana Chodatf -- Cleome pungens auct., non Willd. = Cleome hassleriana Chodat -- Cleome spinosa auct., non Jacq. = Cleome hassleriana Chodat -- 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
Apophyllum F. Muell. -- Bachmannia Pax -- Belencita H. Karst. -- Borthwickia W. W. Sm. -- Boscia Lam. ex J. St.-Hil., nom. cons. -- Buchholzia Engl. -- Cadaba Forssk. -- Capparis L. -- Cladostemon A. Braun & Vatke -- Cleome L., nom. cons. prop. -- Cleomella DC. -- Crateva L. -- Dactylaena Schrad. ex Schult. & Schult. f. -- Dhofaria A. G. Mill. -- Dipterygium Decne. -- Euadenia Oliv. -- Forchhammeria Liebm. -- Haptocarpum Ule -- Koeberlinia Zucc. -- Maerua Forssk. -- Morisonia L. -- Neothorelia Gagnep. -- Oxystylis Torr. & Frém. -- Pentadiplandra Baill. -- Podandrogyne Ducke -- Poilanedora Gagnep. -- Polanisia Raf. -- Puccionia Chiov. -- Ritchiea R. Br. ex G. Don -- Steriphoma Spreng., nom. cons. -- Stixis Lour. -- Thilachium Lour. -- Tirania Pierre -- Wislizenia Engelm.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 443 (also see Physenaceae and Setchellanthaceae). Iltis, H.H. 1999. Setchellanthaceae (Capparales), a new family for a relictual, glucosinolate-producing endemic of the Mexican deserts. Taxon 48:257–275.
General references
Baillon, H.E. 1866–95. Histoire des plantes, 13 vols. Hachette and Co., Paris, 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, Engler, A. and K. Prantl. 1924 and onward. Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilimien. W. Engelman, Leipzig, 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, 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
Poor fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Baillon, LeMaout & Decaisne, Gaertner. Seed illustration(s): Cronquist. Embryo illustration(s): Martin, Baillon, LeMaout & Decaisne, Engler & Prantl.
• Seed. 1 of 6. Capparis sandwichiana DC.: seeds. • Fruit. 2 of 6. Cleome serrulata Pursh: fruit. • Seed. 3 of 6. Cleome serrulata Pursh: seeds. • Fruit. 4 of 6. Stixis suaveolens (Roxburg) Pierre: fruit. • Seed. 5 of 6. Stixis suaveolens (Roxburg) Pierre: seed. • Embryo. 6 of 6. Cleome rutidosperma DC.: 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’.
