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Synonyms: Aristoteliaceae Dumort.
Common name: Elaeocarpus Family.
Number of genera 9. Number of species 220.
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 pericarpium; simple; capsule (not Spjut), or drupe; loculicidal capsule; capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; without persistent central column; with styles(s); at apex; within accessory organ(s), or not within accessory organ(s); within perianth (fleshy); from 1–5 cm long (& unknown); (1–)2-carpellate (-many); with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; without sterile carpels; apex not beaked; dehiscent, or indehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp orange to red (at least); durable; glabrous (without hairs) (assumed); with armature, or without armature; with spines; without armature glochidiate; smooth, or not smooth; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; fleshy; composed of 1 unified layer; without lactiform cavity system; and endocarp sharply differentiated (assumed). Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; bony, or thin; not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; not smooth; with sculptures; without operculum; without secretory cavities; without mechanism for seedling escape; without longitudinal ridges. Funiculus short; short without seed bearing hooks (retinacula); not persisting in fruit after seed shed.
Seeds
Aril absent, or present (Sloanea); a true aril; red, or yellow, or orange; well developed, or vestigal; adnate to hilum; fleshy; of funicular origin (assumed); encompassing, or basal; does not aid in seed explusion from fruit; fleshy. Seed embedded in pulpy endocarp tissue; larger than minute, or minute; less than 1 mm long to 10 to less than 25 mm long; 0.5–24 mm long; straight (at least); 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; 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, or pubescent; with hairs over surface, or tuft of hairs at one end (coma), or hairs over surface and hairs along margin; with short hairs; without agglutinated hairs; without mucilaginous hairs; without glandular pubescence; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; black, or brown (all shades), or white (ish); not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Endosperm development nuclear; copious; smooth; with oils, or 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); 0.75–0.9 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; foliate, or linear; with investing cotyledons, or spatulate cotyledons; straight, or J-shaped, or U-shaped, or arcuate; parallel to seed length; with cotyledons gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle, or abruptly connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.5–0.9 times length of embryo; as wide as hypocotyl-radicle, or somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; 1–4 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; entirely concealing hypocotyl-radicle, or partially concealing hypocotyl-radicle; thick; flat; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed, or moderately developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
New World, Old World. North America (introduced), Middle America, South America, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Aceratium DC. -- Aristotelia L'Hér., nom. cons. -- Crinodendron Molina -- Dubouzetia Pancher ex Brongn. & Gris -- Elaeocarpus L. -- Peripentadenia L. S. Sm. -- Sericolea Schltr. -- Sloanea L. -- Vallea Mutis ex L. f.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 348.
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, 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, Hooker, J.D. 1873 and forward. Icones Plantarum. William & Norgate, London. (plate number cited in text within [ ]), 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, 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 [but which of Karen's are seeds or fruits?]. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or fruit incomplete, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Schopmeyer, Hooker [DCXCVI & CXXVIII], Roosmalen. Fruit illustration(s): Schopmeyer, Hooker [127I], Karen [some are endocarps, not seeds]. Seed illustration(s): Hooker [DCXCVI], Karen [some are seeds others endocarps]. Embryo illustration(s): Schopmeyer, Hooker [DCXCVI], Karen, Martin, Corner. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 098: Aceratium ledermannii Schlechter (A-C), Aristotelia serrata (J.R. Forst. & G. Forst.) W.R.B. Oliv. (D-F), Crinodendron hookerianum Gay(G-I), Dubouzetia confusa (J-L), Elaeocarpus reticulatus Sm. (M-O), [now in Tiliaceae] Petenaea cordata Lundell (2: M-O), Peripentadenia mearsii (C.T. White) L.S. Smith (2:A-C), Sericolea sp. (2: D-F), Sloanea hemsleyana (T. Ito) Rehder & E.H. Wilson (2: G-I), Vallea stipularis L.f.(2: J-L).
• Fruit. 1 of 13. Elaeocarpus reticulatus Sm.: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 13. Elaeocarpus reticulatus Sm.: seed. • Fruit. 3 of 13. Aristotelia serrata (J. R. Forst. & G. Forst.) W. R. B. Oliv.: fruit. • Seed. 4 of 13. Aristotelia serrata (J. R. Forst. & G. Forst.) W. R. B. Oliv.: seeds. • Embryo. 5 of 13. Aceratium ledermannii Schltr.: embryo. • Embryo. 6 of 13. Aristotelia serrata (J. R. Forst. & G. Forst.) W. R. B. Oliv.: embryo. • Embryo. 7 of 13. Crinodendron hookerianum Gay: embryo. • Embryo. 8 of 13. Dubouzetia confusa Guillaumin & Virot: embryo. • Embryo. 9 of 13. Elaeocarpus reticulatus Sm.: embryo. • Embryo. 10 of 13. Peripentadenia mearsii (C. White) L. S. Sm.: embryo. • Embryo. 11 of 13. Sericolea sp.: embryo. • Embryo. 12 of 13. Sloanea hemsleyana (T. Itô) Rehder & E. H. Wilson: embryo. • Embryo. 13 of 13. Vallea stipularis L. f.: 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’.
