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Synonyms: Sedaceae Roussel; Sempervivaceae Juss.
Common name: Stonecrop Family.
Number of genera 38. Number of species 1280.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound, or simple; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple, or multiple; follicle (not Spjut), or capsule (not Spjut); follicetum (Sedum); loculicidal capsule (Penthorum & Diamorpha both not Spjut); capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); 1-seeded to many-seeded; 1-seeded (many); with carpels united, or separate (carpels = pistils); without sterile carpels; apex not beaked; dehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent regularly; passively; linearly; by ventral sutures (abaxial); at apex; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp durable; glabrous (without hairs) (assumed); without armature; smooth (assumed); 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 minute; less than 1 mm long; straight; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves, or without apparent food reserves (rarely); with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; surface unsmooth; surface with discreet raised features, or merged raised features; surface echinate; surface faintly reticulate, or ribbed, or ridged; with 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, or with wing(s) (rarely); without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; membranous; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo, or surrounding food reserve. Endosperm development cellular; copious to scant; fleshy; with oils, or proteins; 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; completely filling testa (no food reserve) to nearly filling testa (trace or scanty food reserve); 0.8 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; foliate (at least); with spatulate cotyledons; straight; parallel to seed length; with cotyledons abruptly connected to hypocotyl-radicle (assumed); without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.5–0.9 times length of embryo; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; 3 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; flat; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed, or well developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan (nearly except Australia & Polynesia). New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia.
Weed information
1 or more USA state noxious weeds.
USA states and territories with listed noxious weeds: Florida (FL), Minnesota (MN), New Hampshire (NH), North Carolina (NC), Washington (WA).
USA state and territory noxious weeds: -- Crassula helmsii (Kirk) Cockayne: USA state noxious weed: FLª, MNª, NCª, NHª, WAª. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
Listed seeds
ASOA listed seeds, ISTA listed seeds.
ASOA listed seeds: -- Hylotelephium telephium (L.) H. Ohba -- Kalanchoe blossfeldiana Poelln. -- Sedum acre L. -- Sedum telephium L. = Hylotelephium telephium (L.) H. Ohba -- Sempervivum L. spp. -- Last updated September 2008.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Hylotelephium cauticola (Praeger) H. Ohba = Sedum cauticola Praeger -- Kalanchoe blossfeldiana Poelln.f -- Kalanchoe crenata (Andrews) Haw.f -- Kalanchoe globulifera H. Perrierf -- Phedimus spurius (M. Bieb.) 't Hart = Sedum spurium M. Bieb.-- Sedum album L. -- Sedum cauticola Praeger -- Sedum reflexum L. -- Sedum spurium M. Bieb.-- 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
Adromischus Lem. -- Aeonium Webb & Berthel. -- Aichryson Webb & Berthel. -- Balfouria (H. Ohba) H. Ohba -- Bryophyllum Salisb. -- Chiastophyllum (Ledeb.) Stapf ex A. Berger -- Cotyledon L., nom. cons. prop. -- Crassula L. -- Cremnophila Rose -- Diamorpha Nutt., nom. cons. -- Dudleya Britton & Rose -- Echeveria DC. -- Graptopetalum Rose -- Hylotelephium H. Ohba -- Hypagophytum A. Berger -- Jovibarba (DC.) Opiz -- Kalanchoe Adans. -- Lenophyllum Rose -- Meterostachys Nakai -- Monanthes Haw. -- Orostachys Fisch. ex A. Berger -- Pachyphytum Link et al. -- Perrierosedum (A. Berger) H. Ohba -- Pistorinia DC. -- Pseudosedum (Boiss.) A. Berger -- Rhodiola L. -- Rosularia (DC.) Stapf -- Sedum L., nom. cons. prop. -- Sempervivum L. -- Sinocrassula A. Berger -- Tacitus Moran -- Thompsonella Britton & Rose -- Tillaea L. -- Tylecodon Toelken -- Umbilicus DC. -- Villadia Rose
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 566. Spongberg, S.A. 1978. The genera of Crassulaceae in the southeastern United States. J. Arnold Arbor. 59:197–248.
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], 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, 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 seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Baillon, LeMaout & Decaisne, Cronquist, Spongberg (1978), Wood, Jr. Seed illustration(s): Baillon, LeMaout & Decaisne, Spongberg (1978), Wood, Jr. Embryo illustration(s): Baillon, LeMaout & Decaisne, Wood, Jr.
• Seed. 1 of 5. Crassula coccinea L.: seeds. • Fruit. 2 of 5. Kalanchoe spathulata DC.: dehisced fruit. • Seed. 3 of 5. Kalanchoe spathulata DC.: seeds. • Seed. 4 of 5. Sempervivum tectorum L.: seeds. • Embryo. 5 of 5. Sedum acre L.: 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’.
