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Synonyms: Aphanopetalaceae Doweld; Baueraceae Lindl.; Belangeraceae J. Agardh; Callicomaceae J. Agardh; Codiaceae Tiegh., nom. inval.
Common name: Cunonia Family.
Number of genera 22. Number of species 340.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or an intact or entire fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) simple, or compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium, or anthocarp; compound, or schizocarp, or simple; capsule, or follicle (not Spjut), or samara (Gilibeea); coccarium (Callicoma), or follicarium (Spiraeanthemum); capsiconum (Pancheria); septicidal capsule (Acrophyllum); capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; simple; pseudosamara (Aphanopetalum); without persistent central column, or with persistent central column (Cunonia); valves not diverging at top of central column; within accessory organ(s), or not within accessory organ(s); within sepals; persistent, or evanescent; 1-seeded to many-seeded; 1-seeded (to many); 1(–5)-carpellate (3–5: Goldberg & Cronquist); with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; with carpels not radiating at maturity; without sterile carpels; apex not beaked; dehiscent, or indehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent regularly; at apex (assumed); and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp durable; glabrous (without hairs), or not glabrous (with hairs) (tomentose); hairs not glandular; without armature; without wing(s), or with wing(s); 2-winged; with wing(s) lateral (see Gillbeea); without apical respiratory hole. Endocarp present, or absent; not separating from exocarp; fibrous, or thin, or woody; splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes, or 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; less than 1 mm long to 5 to less than 10 mm long; 0.4–6 mm long; angular, or elliptic, or lanceolate; 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; with markedly different marginal tissue, or without markedly different marginal tissue; marginal tissue corklike; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; surface unsmooth, or smooth; surface with discreet raised features, or merged raised features; surface tuberculate, or warted; surface reticulate, or striate; 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, or pubescent; with hairs over surface, or tuft of hairs at one end (coma), or tuft of hairs at each end, or hairs along margin; with short hairs; densely hairy; tomentose; without agglutinated hairs; without glandular pubescence; without wings, or with wing(s); without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; thin; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Raphe conspicuous (raised & elongate), or inconspicuous; texture as testa (assumed). Endosperm development nuclear; copious; fleshy; smooth; with starch; with oils; 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; partially filling testa (with food reserve); 0.5–0.7 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; foliate, or linear; with spatulate cotyledons (assumed); straight; parallel to seed length; with cotyledons abruptly connected to hypocotyl-radicle, or gradually 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; 1.7–4 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; flat; smooth; with apices entire; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed; coiled; not thickened.
Distribution
New World, Old World. Middle America, South America, Africa, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania (to New Caledonia).
Notes
Dickson (1984) noted 12 genera have distinct fruit: 2 follicular & 10 septicidal: Cunonia carpels separate from central tissue (columnella?); 9 genera have indehiscent fruit: indehiscent capsule, berry, drupe, and winged fruit in Gillbeea. Goldberg also recognized Baueraceae.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Acrophyllum Benth. -- Acsmithia Hoogland -- Aistopetalum Schltr. -- Anodopetalum A. Cunn. ex Endl. -- Aphanopetalum Endl. -- Bauera Banks ex Andrews -- Caldcluvia D. Don -- Callicoma Andrews -- Ceratopetalum Sm. -- Codia J. R. Forst. & G. Forst. -- Cunonia L., nom. cons. -- Geissois Labill. -- Gillbeea F. Muell. -- Lamanonia Vell. -- Pancheria Brongn. & Gris, nom. cons. -- Platylophus D. Don, nom. cons. -- Pseudoweinmannia Engl. -- Pullea Schltr. -- Schizomeria D. Don -- Spiraeanthemum A. Gray -- Vesselowskya Pamp. -- Weinmannia L., nom. cons.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 545. Dickison, W.C. 1984. Fruits and seeds of the Cunoniaceae. J. Arnold Arbor. 65:149–190; Lopez Naranjo, H. & H. Huber. 1971. Anatomia comparativa de las semillas de Brunellia y Weinmannia con respecto a su posicion sistematica. Pittieria 3:19–28.
General references
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.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Dickison (1984), LeMaout & Decaisne. Seed illustration(s): Dickison (1984), LeMaout & Decaisne. Embryo illustration(s): LeMaout & Decaisne.
• Fruit. 1 of 5. Ceratopetalum gummiferum Sm.: fruit with calyx. • Seed. 2 of 5. Ceratopetalum gummiferum Sm.: fruits. • Fruit. 3 of 5. Weinmannia trichosperma Cav.: fruits dehisced and entire. • Seed. 4 of 5. Weinmannia trichosperma Cav.: seeds. • Embryo. 5 of 5. Weinmannia guyanensis Klotzsch ex Engl.: 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’.
