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Common name: Halophytum Family.
Number of genera 1. Number of species 1 (Halophytum ameghinoi (Speg.) Speg.).
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule an intact or entire fruit.
Fruits
Fruit pericarpium; simple; urticle (not Spjut); without persistent central column; more than 1 but less than 10-seeded; 2-seeded (based on drawing in Correa); less than 1 cm long to from 1–5 cm long; 0.8–1.4 cm long; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; in transection terete; apex beaked; apex moderately beaked; wall chartaceous (assumed); indehiscent. Epicarp greenish- purple, or green; dull; evanscent; glabrous (without hairs), or not glabrous (with hairs); hairs short, or medium length; hairs dense; hairs not glandular; without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; hard firm and thick (unusually); not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; 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. Seed larger than minute; circular; in transection compressed; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves; with endosperm (assumed); 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; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo. Endosperm opaque; 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); 1.3 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; peripheral; linear; annular; 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; 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 connate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed; curved (U-shaped); not thickened.
Distribution
New World. South America (Argentina).
Notes
Spegazzini (1899 &1902).
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Halophytum Speg.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 263 (Cronquist & Mabberley have in Chenopodiaceae). Soriano, A. 1984. In: M.N. Correa, ed., Flora Patagonica, parte IVa. Dicotyledones dialipetales (Saliaceae a Cruciferae), pp. 163 & 167. Colección Científica del INTA, Buenos Aires; Spegazzini, C.L. 1899. Nova addenda ad floram patagonicam. Anales Soc. Cie. Argent. 48:40–60; Spegazzini, C.L. 1902. Nova addenda ad floram patagonicam. Anales Mus. Buenos Aires 7:140–160.
General references
Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, 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 poor seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Correa (1984). Fruit illustration(s): Correa (1984) [sketch]. Embryo illustration(s): Correa (1984) [sketch].
• Fruit. 1 of 3. Halophytum ameghinoi (Speg.) Speg.: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 3. Halophytum ameghinoi (Speg.) Speg.: seeds. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Halophytum amehinoi (Speg.) Speg.: 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’.
