| | Family guide for fruits and seeds |
Common name: Oleaster Family.
Number of genera 3. Number of species 45.
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; acrosarcum (Shepherdia), or pseudodrupe (Elaeagnus); without persistent central column; with styles(s); at apex; within accessory organ(s); within hypanthium and calyx; accrescent; persistent; with hypanthium achenes; with hypanthium wall distinct from fruit wall; with hypanthium composed of 2 layers; with hypanthium soft layer over hard layer; with hypanthium fleshy, or meally; 1-seeded; 1-seeded; 1-carpellate; apex not beaked; indehiscent. Epicarp 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 larger than minute; 1 to less than 5 mm long to 5 to less than 10 mm long; 5 mm long (at least); straight (assumed); in transection terete (assumed); 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; surface unsmooth, or smooth; surface with merged raised features; surface rugose; without crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle; with notch along margin where cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle tip approaching each other; without glands; without bristles; glabrous; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; membranous, or cartilaginous; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo (essentially). Hilum basal. Raphe conspicuous; texture as testa (assumed); described as "projecting". Endosperm development nuclear; trace; restricted to sheath around radicle (at least).
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; nearly filling testa (trace or scanty food reserve); 0.9 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; foliate; with spatulate cotyledons, or investing cotyledons; straight; parallel to seed length; with cotyledons abruptly connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; with cotyledons containing oils, or starch (occasionally); without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.7–0.8 times length of embryo; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; 2–3.5 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; partially concealing hypocotyl-radicle; not foliaceous; thick; flat; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally more or less cordate, or entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, Europe, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, Australia.
Notes
How to score: Fruit layers with hypanthium and to understand the quote from Cronquist: "Fruit drupe-like or berry-like, the dry achene enveloped by (but free from) the persistent base of the hypanthium, which becomes mealy or fleshy, very often with bony inner layer…" Fruit maybe hard or not - greatly hardened within fleshy hypanthium. Calyx more mealy than juicy.
Weed information
1 or more USA state noxious weeds.
USA states and territories with listed noxious weeds: Colorado (CO), Connecticut (CT), Massachusetts (MA), New Hampshire (NH), New Mexico (NM), Puerto Rico (PR), West Virginia (WV).
USA state and territory noxious weeds: -- Elaeagnus angustifolia L.: USA state noxious weed: CO●, CT●, NM●. -- Elaeagnus multiflora Thunb.: USA state noxious weed: PR●. -- Elaeagnus umbellata Thunb.: USA state noxious weed: CT●, MA●, NH●, WV●. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
Listed seeds
ASOA listed seeds, ISTA listed seeds.
ASOA listed seeds: -- Elaeagnus angustifolia L. -- Elaeagnus commutata Bernh. ex Rydb. -- Shepherdia argentea (Pursh) Nutt. -- Shepherdia canadensis (L.) Nutt. -- Last updated September 2008.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Elaeagnus angustifolia L.t -- 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
Elaeagnus L. -- Hippophae L. -- Shepherdia Nutt., nom. cons.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 606.
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], 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, 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 fruit incomplete, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Engler & Prantl, Schopmeyer. Fruit illustration(s): Schopmeyer, Karen [Elaeagnus only]. Seed illustration(s): Engler & Prantl, Karen [but not Elaeagnus]. Embryo illustration(s): Schopmeyer, Karen, Corner, Engler & Prantl. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 183: Elaeagnus angustifolia L. (A-B), Hippophae rhamnoides L. (C-D), Shepherdia argentea (Pursh) Nutt. (E-F).
• Fruit. 1 of 5. Elaeagnus angustifolia L.: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 5. Elaeagnus angustifolia L.: seed. • Embryo. 3 of 5. Elaeagnus angustifolia L.: embryo. • Embryo. 4 of 5. Hippophae rhamnoides L.: embryo. • Embryo. 5 of 5. Shepherdia argentea (Pursh) Nutt.: 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’.
