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Common name: Cyanastrum Family.
Number of genera 1. Number of species 6.
Angiosperm. Liliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or an intact or entire fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; capsule; loculicidal capsule (assumed, but not Spjut); capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); more than 1 but less than 10-seeded; 1–3-seeded; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; apex not beaked; dehiscent, or indehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp durable; without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Endocarp present; thin; not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; without operculum; without secretory cavities; without longitudinal ridges. Funiculus short; short without seed bearing hooks (retinacula); not persisting in fruit after seed shed.
Seeds
Aril present; a true aril; brown; well developed; fleshy; spongy (& reticulate). Seed larger than minute; 5 to less than 10 mm long; 7 mm long; circular; in transection compressed; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves, or without apparent food reserves; with chalazosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; surface smooth, or unsmooth; surface with merged raised features; surface reticulate; 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; white (ish); not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo.
Chalazosperm copious; with starch; with compound starch grains; with oil. Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve); 0.5 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; without coleoptile; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 1 cotyledon. Cotyledons one and terminal with lateral plumule; not modified into scutellum; not circinately coiled.
Distribution
Old World. Africa (tropical).
Notes
Spjut did not cover this family.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Cyanastrum Oliv.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 1206. Carter, S. 1966. Tecophileaceae. In: E. Milne-Redhead & R.M. Polhill, eds., Flora of tropical east Africa, 7 pp. Crown Agents for Oversea Governments & Administrations, London.
General references
Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, 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.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or fruit incomplete, or seed. Fruit illustration(s): Carter (1966). Seed illustration(s): Karen. Embryo illustration(s): Karen. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 369: Cyanastrum cordifolium Oliv. (A-B).
• Fruit. 1 of 3. Cyanastrum cordifolium Oliv.: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 3. Cyanastrum cordifolium Oliv.: seeds. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Cyanastrum cordifolium 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’.
