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Common name: Gyrostemon Family.
Number of genera 5. Number of species 14.
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; schizocarp, or simple; achene (Cypselocarpus of author, not Spjut); camarium; with persistent central column, or without persistent central column; valves not diverging at top of central column; not within accessory organ(s); 1-seeded to many-seeded; 1-seeded (-many); less than 1 cm long to from 1–5 cm long; 0.2–1.2 cm long; Cypselocarpus 1-carpellate (-many); with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; in transection terete; apex not beaked; indehiscent (Cypselocarpus & Tersonia but eventually falling apart), or dehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent passively; linearly; by dorsal sutures, or ventral sutures; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp absent. 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 present; a true aril; cream and white (or pale & tranlucent); well developed (large to small); adnate to hilum; fleshy; of funicular origin; encompassing, or marginal, or basal; does not aid in seed explusion from fruit; fleshy. Seed minute to larger than minute; less than 1 mm long to 1 to less than 5 mm long; 1–4 mm long; C-shaped, or circular, or hippocrepiform, or obovate, or triangular; in transection compressed; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves; with endosperm (Goldberg questioned, but did not answer, whether endosperm or persisperm. Based on literature perisperm not scored); without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; surface unsmooth, or smooth; surface with merged raised features, or discreet raised features; surface papillate; surface ridged, or rugose, or reticulate; with 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; pubescent; without glandular pubescence; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; reddish- or orangish- brown (all shades); not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo. Endosperm copious, or scant; fleshy; smooth; with oils; 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); longer; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; peripheral; linear; bent, or arcuate; with cotyledons gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.4 times length of embryo; as wide as hypocotyl-radicle; 1 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; not foliaceous; thin; flat; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Old World. Australia.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Codonocarpus A. Cunn. ex Endl. -- Cypselocarpus F. Muell. -- Gyrostemon Desf. -- Tersonia Moq. -- Walteranthus Keighery --
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 455. Toelken, H.R. 1986. Family Gyrostemonaceae. In: J.P. Jessop and H.R. Toelken, eds., Flora of South Australia, Part 1: Lycopodiaceae to Rosaceae, pp. 184–188. South Australia Government Printing Division, Adelaide; Keighery, G.J. 1985. Walteranthus, a new genus of Gyrostemonaceae from western Australia. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 106:107–113; Boyland, D.E. 1981. 26. Gyrostemonaceae. In: J. Jessop, ed., Flora of Central Australia. Reed, Sydney; Tobe, H. & P.H. Raven. 1991. The embrylogy and relationships of Gyrostemonaceae. Austral. Syst. Bot. 4:407–420.
General references
Baillon, H.E. 1866–95. Histoire des plantes, 13 vols. Hachette and Co., Paris, Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, Flora of Australia (various years and volumes). Australian Government Publication, Canberra, 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, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and seed illustrations. Cronquist has no illustration. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Flora of Australia Vol. 8, Keighery (1985), Toelken (1986), Boyland (1981), LeMaout & Decaisne, Baillon. Seed illustration(s): Tobe & Raven (1991), Toelken (1986), Keighery (1985). Embryo illustration(s): Tobe & Raven (1991).
• Fruit. 1 of 5. Gyrostemon thesioides (Hool. F.) A. S. George: fruits. • Seed. 2 of 5. Gyrostemon thesioides (Hool. F.) A. S. George: seeds. • Fruit. 3 of 5. Tersonia brevipes Hool. ex Moq.: fruits. • Seed. 4 of 5. Tersonia brevipes Hool. ex Moq.: seeds. • Embryo. 5 of 5. Codonocarpus pyramidalis (F. Muell.) F. Muell.: 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’.
