| | Family guide for fruits and seeds |
Common name: Rock-rose Family.
Number of genera 9. Number of species 175.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; capsule; loculicidal capsule; capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); 1-seeded to more than 1 but less than 10-seeded, or many-seeded; 1-many; 10-carpellate, or 5-carpellate, or 3-carpellate; with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; apex not beaked; wall membranaceous, or leathery; dehiscent. Dehiscent unit endocarp(s). Dehiscent regularly; passively; at apex; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp durable; without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp absent. Endocarp present; 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; 1.5 mm long; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; surface unsmooth, or smooth; surface with discreet raised features, or merged raised features; surface papillate; surface reticulate, or wrinkled; 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; black, or brown (all shades); crustaceous; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Raphe inconspicuous. Endosperm development nuclear; moderate; floury, or hard; transparent; smooth; with starch; 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; nearly filling testa (trace or scanty food reserve); at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; peripheral, or axile and centric (at least subaxile); foliate, or linear; with spatulate cotyledons; bent, or flatly coiled (circinate), or arcuate, or annular, or straight (Lechea); without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.5–0.7 times length of embryo; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; 2–6 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; circinate, or once-folded, or plicate; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed; straight (assumed); not thickened.
Distribution
Pantemperate (warm temperate). New World, Old World. North America, Middle America.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
ASOA listed seeds, ISTA listed seeds.
ASOA listed seeds: -- Helianthemum nummularium (L.) Mill. -- Last updated September 2008.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Helianthemum nummularium (L.) Mill.f -- 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
Atlanthemum Raynaud -- Cistus L. -- Fumana (Dunal) Spach -- Halimium (Dunal) Spach -- Helianthemum Mill. -- Hudsonia L. -- Lechea L. -- Therocistus Holub -- Tuberaria (Dunal) Spach, nom. cons.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 394.
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, 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], Gray, A. 1848. Genera florae Americae boreali-orientalis illustrata, 2 vols. James Munroe and Co., Boston., 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 acceptable seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Gray, LeMaout & Descaisne, Cronquist. Seed illustration(s): Gray, LeMaout & Decaisne, Baillon, Karen. Embryo illustration(s): Gray, Karen, Baillon, Martin. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 110: Cistus crispus L. (A-B), Helianthemem (Crocanthemum) coulteri [nither listed in INPI] (C-D), Fumana nudiflora Janchen (E-F), Halimium alyssoides Lamotte (G-H), Helianthemum tomentosum Guss. (I-J), Hudsonia ericoides L. (K-L), Lechea intermedia Legg. ex Brit. & Hollick (M-N), Tuberaria guttala Fourr. (O-P).
• Fruit. 1 of 13. Cistus laurifolius L.: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 13. Cistus laurifolius L.: seeds. • Fruit. 3 of 13. Helianthemum arenicola Chapm.: dehisced fruit. • Seed. 4 of 13. Helianthemum arenicola Chapm.: seeds. • Seed. 5 of 13. Helianthemum arenicola Chapm.: seeds. • Embryo. 6 of 13. Cistus crispus L.: embryo. • Embryo. 7 of 13. Fumana procumbens (Dunal) Gren. & Godron: embryo. • Embryo. 8 of 13. Halimium alyssoides (Lam.) C. Koch: embryo. • Embryo. 9 of 13. Helianthemum coulteri S. Watson: embryo. • Embryo. 10 of 13. Helianthemum tomentosum (Scop.) S.F. Gray: embryo. • Embryo. 11 of 13. Hudsonia ericoides L.: embryo. • Embryo. 12 of 13. Lechea intermedia Leggett ex Britt.: embryo. • Embryo. 13 of 13. Tuberaria guttala (L.) Fourr.: 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’.
