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Common name: Cecropia Family.
Number of genera 6. Number of species 200.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule an intact or entire fruit.
Fruits
Pistil(s) 1; 1-pistillate. Fruit anthocarp, or pericarpium; simple; achene (of authors, but not Spjut); compound; sorosus; without persistent central column; within accessory organ(s); within corolla, or calyx, or perianth (all fleshy & depending on genus); accrescent; persistent; soft calyx; 1-seeded; 1-seeded; less than 1 cm long; 0.1–0.3 cm long; 1-carpellate; apex not beaked; wall leathery; indehiscent. Epicarp black (ish), or brown (all shades) (ish-red), or purple (ish); durable; without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; fibrous to leathery, or thin; without lactiform cavity system. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; thin, or thick, or fleshy (to mucilaginous); 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; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves (in large seeds), or without food reserves (in small seeds; Ourouma); with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present (small seeds), or absent (large seeds); crushed (assumed); without embryo surrounded and capped by viscid tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; surface unsmooth; 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; without operculum; colored; monochrome; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo, or surrounding food reserve. Endosperm without fatty acid containing cyclopropene; without apical lobes; without chlorophyll; without isodiametric faceted surface; without odor.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve, or undifferentiated 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; foliate; with spatulate cotyledons; straight; parallel to seed length; with cotyledons gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.6–0.9 times length of embryo; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; moderately thick, or thick; flat; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Pantropical. New World, Old World. Middle America, South America, Africa, southeastern Asia, Australia.
Notes
Goldberg did not cover this family.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Cecropia Loefl., nom. cons. -- Coussapoa Aubl. -- Musanga C. Sm. ex R. Br. -- Myrianthus P. Beauv. -- Poikilospermum Zipp. ex Miq. -- Pourouma Aubl.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 198. Berg, C.C., R.W.A.P. Akkermans, & E.C.H. van Heusden. 1990. Cecropiaceae: Coussapoa and Pourouma, with an introduction to the family. Fl. Neotrop. Monogr. 51:1–208.
General references
Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, Flora Neotropica. 1968–74. Nos. 1–14. Hafner Publishing Company, Darien and 1976-. Nos. 15-present. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx [monograph number], 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
Poor fruit and seed illustrations Cronquist has no illustration. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Karen (all appear to illustrate one fruit from a cluster of fruits). Embryo illustration(s): Karen. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 054: Ceropia palmata Willd. (A-B), CHECK GRIN ====(Coussapoarekoi) Poulsenia armata (Miq.) Standl. (C-D), Musanga (smithii) cecrepioidus Tedlie (K-L), Myrianthus arboreus P. Beauv. (I-J), Pourouma cecropiifolia Mart. (E-F), Poikilospermum diffusum (Merrill) Merrill (G-H).
• Fruit. 1 of 11. Cecropia palmata Willd.: fruiting head. • Seed. 2 of 11. Cecropia palmata Willd.: seeds. • Seed. 3 of 11. Myrianthus arboreus P. Beauv.: seeds. • Fruit. 4 of 11. Pourouma cecropiifolia Mart.: fruit. • Seed. 5 of 11. Pourouma cecropiifolia Mart.: fruits. • Embryo. 6 of 11. Cecropia palmata Willd.: embryo. • Embryo. 7 of 11. Poulsenia armata (Miq.) Standl.: embryo. • Embryo. 8 of 11. Musanga cecropioides Tedlie: embryo. • Embryo. 9 of 11. Myrianthus arboreus P. Beauv.: embryo. • Embryo. 10 of 11. Poikilospermum diffusum (Merr.) Merr.: embryo. • Embryo. 11 of 11. Pourouma cecropiifolia Mart.: 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’.
