| | Family guide for fruits and seeds |
Synonyms: Aralidiaceae Philipson & B. C. Stone; Aucubaceae J. Agardh; Corokiaceae Kapil ex Takht.; Curtisiaceae Takht.; Davidiaceae H. L. Li; Griseliniaceae J. R. Forst. & G. Forst. ex A. Cunn.; Helwingiaceae Decne.; Kaliphoraceae Takht.; Mastixiaceae Calest.; Melanophyllaceae Takht. ex Airy Shaw; Nyssaceae Juss. ex Dumort., nom. cons.; Toricelliaceae Hu
Common name: Dogwood Family.
Number of genera 15. Number of species 90.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule an intact or entire fruit.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium, or anthocarp; simple; drupe, or berry (Aucuba, Griselinia not Spjut.); berry indehiscent; berry without central placental mass; compound; sorosus; without persistent central column; with stylar remenant(s) (or scar); at apex; not within accessory organ(s); less than 1 cm long, or more than 10 cm long; 0.7–40 cm long; 2–4(–5)-carpellate; without sterile carpels; apex not beaked; wall fleshy; indehiscent. Epicarp green, or purple (with or without corky spots), or red, or yellow; durable; hard (Davidia); glabrous (without hairs); without armature; smooth; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; fleshy, or granular; composed of 1 unified layer; without lactiform cavity system; and endocarp sharply differentiated. Endocarp present, or absent; not separating from exocarp; bony, or woody, or chartaceous (Camptotheca); not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes, or splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; stone unilocular, or plurilocular; stone 1–2-loculate; not smooth, or smooth; with ridges (usually 12 & some sharp & some winged), or furrow(s) (apex to base), or knobs; without wing, or with wing; with operculum, or without operculum; 2-operculate; without secretory cavities; without mechanism for seedling escape, or with mechanism for seedling escape (in former Nyssaceae genera each locule opening apically by a triangular abaxial valve at germination); with grooves, or without grooves; with longitudinal ridges, or without longitudinal ridges; without fracturing longitudinal ridges. Funiculus short; short without seed bearing hooks (retinacula); not persisting in fruit after seed shed.
Seeds
Aril absent. Seed larger than minute; straight, or D-shaped, or circular; in transection compressed, or terete; 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; tight; surface smooth (assumed); 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; brown (all shades); coriaceous; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Endosperm development cellular; copious to scant; fleshy; smooth; with oils, or hemicellulose (occasionally); without fatty acid containing cyclopropene; with petroselenic acid (Aucuba); without apical lobes; without chlorophyll; without isodiametric faceted surface; without odor.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve); 0.7–1 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; foliate, or linear (occasionally); with spatulate cotyledons; straight, or bent; more or less parallel to seed length; with cotyledons abruptly connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed, or moderately developed; 0.3–0.9 times length of embryo; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle, or as wide as hypocotyl-radicle; 1–4.7 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; not foliaceous; thick, or thin; flat; with apices entire, or notched; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Pantemperate (especially Northern and irregularly Southern), pantropical (irregularly). New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania.
Notes
Cronquist: recognized Cornaceae & Nyssaceae; Goldberg: recognized C., N., & Davidiaceae.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
ASOA listed seeds, ISTA listed seeds.
ASOA listed seeds: -- Cornus canadensis L. -- Cornus florida L. -- Cornus nuttallii Audubon -- Cornus sericea subsp. sericea L. -- Cornus stolonifera Michx. = Cornus sericea subsp. sericea L. -- Nyssa aquatica L. -- Nyssa sylvatica Marshall -- Last updated September 2008.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Aucuba japonica Thunb. (other family classification = Garryaceae) -- Cornus alba L. -- Cornus controversa Hemsl. ex Prain-- Cornus florida L. -- Cornus kousa Hance -- Cornus mas L.t -- Cornus nuttallii Audubon -- Cornus sanguinea L.t -- Cornus sibirica Lodd. = Cornus alba L. -- Nyssa aquatica L. (other family classification = Nyssaceae) -- Nyssa sylvatica Marshall (other family classification = Nyssaceae) -- 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
Aralidium Miq. -- Aucuba Thunb. -- Camptotheca Decne. -- Cornus L. -- Corokia A. Cunn. -- Curtisia Aiton, nom. cons. -- Davidia Baill. -- Diplopanax Hand.-Mazz. -- Griselinia J. R. Forst. & G. Forst. -- Helwingia Willd., nom. cons. -- Kaliphora Hook. f. -- Mastixia Blume -- Melanophylla Baker -- Nyssa L. -- Toricellia DC.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 668 (including 665: Nyssaceae). Eyde, R.H. 1963. Morphology and paleobotanical studies of the Nyssaceae. I. A survey of the modern species and their fruits. J. Arnold Arbor. 44:1–59; Eyde, R.H. 1966. Systematic anatomy of the flower and fruit of Corokia. Amer. J. Bot. 53:833–847.
General references
Boerlage, J. G. 1897–1914. Icones Borgorienses, 4 vols. E.J. Brill, Leiden (plate numbers are in [ ]), 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, Hooker, J.D. 1873 and forward. Icones Plantarum. William & Norgate, London. (plate number cited in text within [ ]), 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, Schopmeyer, C.S. 1974. Seeds of Woody plants in the United States. Agric. Handb. 450:1–883, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182, Wood, C.E., Jr. 1974. A student's atlas of flowering plants: Some dicotyledons of eastern North America, 120 pp. Harper and Row, New York.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or fruit incomplete, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Schopmeyer, Wood, Jr., Hooker [1961], Gaertner, Cronquist, Engler & Prantl. Fruit illustration(s): Karen, Eyde (1966), Boerlage [179], Wood, Jr., Schopmeyer, Engler & Prantl. Embryo illustration(s): Karen, Martin, Schopmeyer, Engler & Prantl. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 203 & 202: Aucuba japonica Thunb. (A-C), Cornus amomum Mill. (D-F), Corokia cotoneaster Raoul (G-I), Curtisia faginea Ait. (J-L), Davidia involucrata Baill. (202: A-B), Griselinia littoralis [not finalized], Helwingia himalaica Hook. f. & Thomps. ex C.B. Clarke (M-O), Kaliphora madagascariensis Hook. f. (P-R), Nyssa sessilifora Hook. f. & Thomps. (202: C-D), Toricellia angulata Oliver (S-U).
• Fruit. 1 of 13. Cornus amomum Mill.: fruit . • Fruit. 2 of 13. Cornus amomum Mill.: fruit with exocarp removed. • Seed. 3 of 13. Cornus amomum Mill.: seed. • Fruit. 4 of 13. Nyssa aquatica L.: fruit. • Fruit. 5 of 13. Nyssa aquatica L.: fruit with exocarp removed. • Seed. 6 of 13. Nyssa aquatica L.: seed. • Embryo. 7 of 13. Aucuba japonica Thunb.: embryo. • Embryo. 8 of 13. Cornus amomum Mill.: embryo. • Embryo. 9 of 13. Corokia cotoneaster Raoul: embryo. • Embryo. 10 of 13. Curtisia faginea Aiton: embryo. • Embryo. 11 of 13. Helwingia himalaica Hook. & Thomson ex C. B. Clarke: embryo. • Embryo. 12 of 13. Kaliphora madagascariensis Hook. F.: embryo. • Embryo. 13 of 13. Torricellia angulata Oliv.: 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’.
