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Synonyms: Diospyraceae Vest; Guaiacanaceae Juss., nom. illeg.
Common name: Ebony Family.
Number of genera 2. Number of species 485.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or an intact or entire fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) 1; 1-pistillate. Fruit pericarpium, or anthocarp; simple; berry, or capsule (of authors, but not Spjut), or drupe; capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; berry indehiscent; berry without central placental mass; simple; glans (Diospyros virginiana L.), or diclesium (Diospyros whyteana (Hiern) F. White of Spjut, but incorrect - see Notes); without persistent central column; with styles(s); at apex; within accessory organ(s), or not within accessory organ(s); within calyx; accrescent (assumed); more than 1 but less than 10-seeded; 3–8-seeded; from 1–5 cm long; 3–4 cm long (at least); (2–)3–8(–16)-carpellate (often 4); with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; with carpels not radiating at maturity; without sterile carpels; in transection terete; apex not beaked; wall leathery; indehiscent, or dehiscent (rarely). Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent regularly; passively; at apex; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp black, or brown (all shades), or green, or orange, or purple, or red, or yellow; durable; without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; fleshy; composed of 1 unified layer; without lactiform cavity system. Endocarp present, or absent; 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 embedded in pulpy endocarp tissue (some taxa); larger than minute; 1 to less than 5 mm long to 25 to less than 50 mm long; 4–30 mm long; ovate, or circular; in transection compressed, or 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; tight; shiny; surface unsmooth; surface with depressed features, or merged raised features; surface pitted; surface reticulate, or wrinkled; 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; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; brown (all shades), or black; thin, or membranous, or crustaceous, or hard; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Endosperm development nuclear, or cellular (depending on the author); copious; hard (horny); opaque; smooth, or ruminate (because of insursions of testa); with hemicellulose and 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); 0.5–0.6 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; basal; conical, or foliate; with spatulate cotyledons; straight, or bent (slightly); parallel to seed length, or oblique 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; divaricate; 0.5–0.7 times length of embryo; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle, or as wide as hypocotyl-radicle; 2–3 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; foliaceous; flat; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size, or unequal in size; more or less unequal; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed; 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
Spjut's glans does not fit his example: Diospyros virginiana L. The calyx is not fleshy.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Diospyros L. -- Euclea L.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 499.
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, 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. and C.A. Ritchie. 1988. Identification of disseminules listed in the Federal Noxious Weed Act. Techn. Bull. U.S.D.A. 1719:1–313, 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, Martin, A.C. 1946. The comparative internal morphology of seeds. Amer. Midl. Naturalist 36:513–660, Roosmalen, M.G.M. van. 1985. Fruits of the Guianan flora, 483 pp. Institute of Systematic Botany, Wageningen Agricultural University. Drukkerij Veenman B.V., Wageningen, Schopmeyer, C.S. 1974. Seeds of Woody plants in the United States. Agric. Handb. 450:1–883, 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): Roosmalen, Cronquist, Schopmeyer, Gunn & Ritchie, LeMaout & Decaisne. Seed illustration(s): Cronquist, Gunn & Ritchie, Schopmeyer. Embryo illustration(s): Cronquist, Gunn & Ritchie, Schopmeyer, LeMaout & Decaisne, Corner, Martin.
• Seed. 1 of 3. Diospyros blancoi A. DC.: seed. • Embryo. 2 of 3. Euclea divinorum Hiern: embryo. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Diospyros lycioides Desf. subsp. sericea (Bernh.) DeWinter: 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’.
