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Synonyms: Lepidocerataceae Nakai
Common name: Catkin-mistletoe Family.
Number of genera 3. Number of species 13.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule an intact or entire fruit.
Fruits
Pistil(s) 1; 1-pistillate. Fruit pericarpium; simple; berry; berry without central placental mass; without persistent central column; with styles(s); at apex; not within accessory organ(s); 1-seeded; 1-seeded; 1-carpellate (assumed); in transection terete; apex not beaked; wall fleshy; indehiscent. Epicarp green, or yellow, or black, or red, or gray; durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; smooth; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; fleshy; composed of 1 unified layer; without lactiform cavity system. Endocarp absent. Funiculus short; short without seed bearing hooks (retinacula); not persisting in fruit after seed shed.
Seeds
Aril absent. Seed larger than minute; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves, or without food reserves (Lepidoceras); with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa absent; not differentiated (assumed); without embryo surrounded and capped by viscid tissue. Endosperm smooth; without fatty acid containing cyclopropene; without apical lobes; with chlorophyll and green, or without chlorophyll; without isodiametric faceted surface; without odor.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; nearly filling testa (trace or scanty food reserve), or partially filling testa (with food reserve); at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons, or acotyledonous (Lepidoceras peruvianum Kuijt). Cotyledons 2; equal in size; not punctate dotted.
Distribution
New World. Middle America, South America.
Notes
Endosperm creamy white or in Antidaphne viscoidea light greenish or absent in Lepidoceras. Lepidoceras peruvianum has a globular undifferentiated embryo and acotyledonous. 1-seeded berry black, gray, reddish, green. Seed coat has viscin concentrated at its radicular pole. Viscin caps embryo.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Antidaphne Poepp. & Endl. -- Eubrachion Hook. f. -- Lepidoceras Hook. f.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 693. Kuijt. J. 1988. Monograph of the Eremolepidaceae. Syst. Bot. Monogr. 18:1–60.
General references
Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, 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, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
Poor fruit and no seed illustrations. Cronquist has no illustration. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit. Fruit illustration(s): Kuijt (1988).
• Fruit. 1 of 3. Lepidoceras chilense (Molina) Kuijt: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 3. Lepidoceras chilense (Molina) Kuijt: seed. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Lepidoceras chilense (Molina) Kuijt: 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’.
