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Synonyms: Aldrovandaceae Nakai; Dionaeaceae Raf.; Drosophyllaceae Chrtek et al.
Common name: Sundew Family.
Number of genera 4. Number of species 85.
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; not within accessory organ(s); more than 1 but less than 10-seeded to many-seeded; 3-seeded (to many); less than 1 cm long; 1.5 cm long (at least); 3–5-carpellate; with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; without sterile carpels; in transection terete; apex not beaked; dehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent without replum. Epicarp durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; 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, or larger than minute; less than 1 mm long, or 1 to less than 5 mm long; 0.8–1.5 mm long; fusiform, or straight, or elliptic; in transection terete; 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; without markedly different marginal tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; loose, or tight; surface smooth, or unsmooth; surface with discreet raised features, or merged raised features; surface granular, or tuberculate, or papillate (& ending in reddish glands or not); surface ribbed, or reticulate, or striate, or ridged; 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); 2-winged; with wing at one end; with wing(s) solid; with solid wing(s) similar to testa; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; brown (all shades), or black; crustaceous; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted, or becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Hilum punctate. Endosperm development nuclear; copious; crystalline-granular; opaque; corrugated; with starch; with oils and 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; partially filling testa (with food reserve); chamber central to wings; 0.1–0.3 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric and basal; conical, or miniature; dwarf; 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 (barely developed). Cotyledons barely 2; tiny; 0.25 times length of embryo; as wide as hypocotyl-radicle; 1 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; not foliaceous; thin; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle small; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan. New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania.
Notes
Steenis (1933) recorded loculicidal capsule for Aldrovanda, but Cronquist & Mabberley have indehiscent. Dionea seeds one-half embedded in placental tissue. Cotyledons truncate.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Aldrovanda L. -- Dionaea Sol. ex J. Ellis -- Drosera L. -- Drosophyllum Link
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 374. Steenis, C.G.G.J. van. 1933. Contributions a l'Etude de la Flore des Indes Neerlandaises XXVII: Droseraceae. Bull. Jard. Bot. Buitenzorg, sér. 3, 13:106–109.
General references
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], Gray, A. 1848. Genera florae Americae boreali-orientalis illustrata, 2 vols. James Munroe and Co., Boston., 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 acceptable seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Gray, Wood, Jr. Seed illustration(s): Gray, Engler & Prantl, Wood, Jr., LeMaout & Decaisne, Karen. Embryo illustration(s): Gray, Engler & Prantl, Wood, Jr., LeMaout & Decaisne, Karen. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 106: Aldrovanda vesiculosa L. (A-C), Dionaea muscipula J. Ellis (D-F), Drosera aucheri [Not in IPNI] (G-I), Drosophyllum lusitanicum (L.) Link(J-L).
• Fruit. 1 of 5. Drosera gigantea Lindl.: fruit with calyx. • Seed. 2 of 5. Drosera gigantea Lindl.: seed cluster. • Embryo. 3 of 5. Aldrovanda vesiculosa L.: embryo. • Embryo. 4 of 5. Dionaea muscipula J. Ellis: embryo. • Embryo. 5 of 5. Drosera aucheri : embryo. • Embryo. 5 of 5. Drosophyllum lusitanicum (L.) Link: 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’.
