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Synonyms: Nectaropetalaceae Exell & Mendonça
Common name: Coca Family.
Number of genera 4. Number of species 260.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule an intact or entire fruit.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; drupe; without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); 1-seeded; 1-seeded; 3-carpellate, or 2-carpellate (Nestaropetalum); with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; in transection terete; apex not beaked; indehiscent. Epicarp durable; without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; hard; not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; stone unilocular; without operculum; without secretory cavities; without longitudinal ridges. Funiculus short; short without seed bearing hooks (retinacula); not persisting in fruit after seed shed.
Seeds
Aril absent, or present (Corner: "If seed of Aneulophus is truly arillate"); a true aril (if present on Aneulophus seeds). Seed larger than minute; 10 to less than 25 mm long; 10 mm long (at least); straight; in transection terete; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves, or without food reserves, or without apparent food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without markedly different marginal tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; 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); thin; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve, or surrounding embryo. Endosperm development nuclear; copious, or scant; cartilaginous, or crystalline-granular, or fleshy; with starch; 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), or completely filling testa (no 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; straight; parallel to seed length; with cotyledons abruptly connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.4–0.6 times length of embryo; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; 2.5 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; foliaceous; thin, or massive (if massive then scant or no endosperm); flat; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed, or well developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Pantropical. New World (mostly), Old World. Middle America, South America, Africa, southeastern Asia, Oceania.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
ISTA listed seeds.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Erythroxylum coca Lam. -- 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
Aneulophus Benth. -- Erythroxylum P. Browne -- Nectaropetalum Engl. -- Pinacopodium Exell & Mendonça
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 755.
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, 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, 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 seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Engler & Prantl, LeMaout & Decaisne. Seed illustration(s): Gunn & Ritchie. Embryo illustration(s): Gunn & Ritchie, Corner, Engler & Prantl, LeMaout & Decaisne.
• Fruit. 1 of 3. Erythroxylum coca Lam.: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 3. Erythroxylum coca Lam.: seed. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Erythroxylum coca Lam.: 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’.
