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Common name: Diervilla Family.
Number of genera 2. Number of species 12–13.
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; many-seeded; many; 2-carpellate; with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; with carpels not radiating at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; in transection terete; apex not beaked; dehiscent. Dehiscent unit mesocarp(s). Dehiscent passively; at apex; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp durable; without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Endocarp present; separating spontaneously 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; straight; 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 (Weigela), or without markedly different marginal tissue (Diervilla); without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; surface 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; glabrous; with wing(s), or without wings; 2-winged; with wings on both sides; with solid wing(s) similar to testa; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; black; thin; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Hilum punctate (assumed). Endosperm development cellular; copious; opaque; smooth; 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); chamber central to wings; 0.3 times the length of food reserve (estimated); at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; linear; straight; parallel to seed length; with cotyledons gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; moderately developed; 0.3 times length of embryo (estimated); somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; 1 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; not foliaceous; thin; flat; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
New World, Old World. North America (Diervilla), Asia Major (Weigela).
Notes
Spjut, Cronquist, & Goldberg did not cover this family.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Diervilla Mill. -- Weigela Thunb.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 1006 (Cronquist & Mabberley have in Caprifoliaceae).
General references
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.
Illustrations
No fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): embryo. Embryo illustration(s): Martin.
• Fruit. 1 of 5. Diervilla sessilifolia Buckley: fruiting head. • Seed. 2 of 5. Diervilla sessilifolia Buckley: seeds. • Fruit. 3 of 5. Weigela florida (Bunge) A. DC.: dehisced fruit. • Seed. 4 of 5. Weigela florida (Bunge) A. DC.: seeds. • Embryo. 5 of 5. Weigela middendorffiana (Carrière) K. Koch: 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’.
