| | Family guide for fruits and seeds |
Common name: Frankenia Family.
Number of genera 2. Number of species 30.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; capsule; loculicidal capsule (Frankenia); capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; without persistent central column; with styles(s); at apex; within accessory organ(s); within calyx (tube); more than 1 but less than 10-seeded; 2- 3-seeded (-4); 3–4-carpellate; with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; in transection terete; apex not beaked; dehiscent. Dehiscent at apex (assumed); and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp durable; without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Endocarp present; 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 (assumed); ovate, or oblong and straight; 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; surface with discreet raised features; surface papillate; 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; crustaceous; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Raphe conspicuous (assumed); texture as testa (assumed). Endosperm development nuclear; copious, or moderate; floury; opaque; smooth; 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); 1.1–1.3 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric and peripheral; foliate, or linear; straight; parallel 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; well developed; 0.3–0.6 times length of embryo; as wide as hypocotyl-radicle, or somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; 1–1.8 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; partially concealing hypocotyl-radicle; not foliaceous; thin; flat; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan (interruptedly). New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania (but interrupted).
Notes
Goldberg: labelled embryo as axile-peripheral; Martin peripheral; Goldberg also noted embryo longer than endosperm and based on Martin's drawing this is true! The embryo extends past both ends of the endosperm.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Frankenia L. -- Hypericopsis Boiss.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 406. Correa, M.N. 1966. Las Frankeniacene argentinas. Darwiniana 14: 68–94.
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, 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, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
No fruit and acceptable seed illustrations. Cronquist has no illustration. Disseminule illustration(s): seed, or embryo. Seed illustration(s): Correa (1966), Karen. Embryo illustration(s): LeMaout & Decaisne, Martin, Karen. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 117: Frankenia salina I.M. Johnston(A-C), Niderleinia juniperoides Hieron (D-F).
• Fruit. 1 of 3. Frankenia juniperoides (Hieron.) M. N. Correa: fruit with calyx. • Seed. 2 of 3. Frankenia juniperoides (Hieron.) M. N. Correa: seeds. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Frankenia juniperoides (Hieron.) M. N. Correa: 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’.
