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Synonyms: Monotaceae Kosterm.
Common name: Meranti Family.
Number of genera 16. Number of species 530.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or an intact or entire fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit anthocarp; simple; pseudosamara; without persistent central column; crowned by sepals; with styles(s); at apex; within accessory organ(s); within calyx; connate; persistent; hard calyx, or soft calyx; 1-seeded, or more than 1 but less than 10-seeded; 1(–2)-seeded; (2–)3(–5)-carpellate; with carpels united; with carpels separating at maturity; with carpels not radiating at maturity; with sterile carpels, or without sterile carpels; in transection terete; apex beaked; apex long beaked to short beaked; wall woody; dehiscent (tardily), or indehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent passively; at apex; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp brown (all shades); durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; not smooth; with wing(s), or without wing(s) (rarely); 1–5-winged; with wing(s) apical; 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, or present (Upuna); a true aril; pale. Seed larger than minute; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity without food reserves, or with food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without markedly different marginal tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; surface unsmooth; surface with merged raised features; surface 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; without wings, or with wing(s); without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; reddish brown (all shades); thin; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo. Endosperm development nuclear.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed (rarely more); completely filling testa (no food reserve); at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; foliate; with investing cotyledons; straight (assumed); 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; 0.7 times length of embryo (at least); somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; much; entirely concealing hypocotyl-radicle, or partially concealing hypocotyl-radicle, or not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; not foliaceous; thick, or thin; crumpled, or controtiplicate, or twisted, or once-folded, or twice-folded; smooth, or corrugate, or ruminate; with apices entire, or cleft, or laciniate; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size, or unequal in size; markedly unequal; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed, or well developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Old World and New World. South America (Guayana Highlands: Pakaraumaea dipterocarpacea), Africa, southeastern Asia (to East Indies).
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
ISTA listed seeds.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Dipterocarpus alatus Roxb. ex G. Don -- Dipterocarpus angustifolius Wight & Arn. = Dipterocarpus costatus C. F. Gaertn. -- Dipterocarpus costatus C. F. Gaertn. -- Dipterocarpus grandiflorus (Blanco) Blanco -- Dipterocarpus turbinatus C. F. Gaertn. -- Dipterocarpus zeylanicus Thwaites -- Hopea odorata Roxb. -- Parashorea malaanonan (Blanco) Merr. -- Parashorea plicata Brandis = Parashorea malaanonan (Blanco) Merr. -- Pentacme contorta (S. Vidal) Merr. & Rolfe = Shorea contorta S. Vidal -- Shorea almon Foxw. -- Shorea contorta S. Vidal -- Shorea macrophylla (de Vriese) P. S. Ashton -- Shorea negrosensis Foxw. -- Shorea polysperma (Blanco) Merr. -- Shorea robusta C. F. Gaertn. -- Shorea stenoptera Burck -- 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
Anisoptera Korth. -- Cotylelobium Pierre -- Dipterocarpus C. F. Gaertn. -- Dryobalanops C. F. Gaertn. -- Hopea Roxb., nom. cons. -- Marquesia Gilg -- Monotes A. DC. -- Neobalanocarpus P. S. Ashton -- Pakaraimaea Maguire & P. S. Ashton -- Parashorea Kurz -- Pseudomonotes Londoño et al. -- Shorea Roxb. ex C. F. Gaertn. -- Stemonoporus Thwaites -- Upuna Symington -- Vateria L. -- Vateriopsis F. Heim -- Vatica L.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 316.
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, 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, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
Poor fruit and no poor illustrations.. Cronquist has no illustration. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit. Fruit illustration(s): Gaertner, Engler & Prantl, Baillon. Seed illustration(s): Gaertner. Embryo illustration(s): Gaertner.
• Fruit. 1 of 5. Dryobalanops sp.: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 5. Dipterocarpus alatus Roxb. ex G. Don: fruit. • Fruit. 3 of 5. Shorea macrophylla (de Vriese) P. S. Ashton: fruit. • Embryo. 4 of 5. Dryobalanops aromatica C. F. Gaertn.: embryo. • Embryo. 5 of 5. Dryobalanops aromatica C. F. Gaertn.: unfolded 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’.
