| | Family guide for fruits and seeds |
Synonyms: Aesculaceae Burnett; Paviaceae Horan.
Common name: Horse-chestnut Family.
Number of genera 2. Number of species 15.
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; capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); 1-seeded to more than 1 but less than 10-seeded; 1(–3)-seeded; (2–)3(–4)-carpellate; with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; in transection terete; apex not beaked; wall leathery; dehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent actively, or passively; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp brown (all shades); dull; durable; coriaceous, or leathery; glabrous (without hairs), or not glabrous (with hairs); hairs not glandular; with armature, or without armature; with spines; without armature glochidiate; smooth, or not smooth; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; thin; 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 (Corner's aril note about Billia is rejected). Seed larger than minute; circular (more or less); in transection terete; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity without food reserves, or with food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; shiny; 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); hard; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo. Hilum larger than punctate; circular, or oblong. Raphe inconspicuous. Endosperm development nuclear.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; completely filling testa (no food reserve); at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; foliate; J-shaped; with cotyledons abruptly connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; with cotyledons containing oils and starch (often starchy); without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.8 times length of embryo; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; 10 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle (at least); not foliaceous; thick; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; unequal in size; markedly unequal; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed; not thickened; in pocket formed by testa therefore mostly separate from cotyledons.
Distribution
New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Asia Major, Asia Minor (south to Thailand).
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
ISTA listed seeds.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Aesculus hippocastanum L.t -- 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
Aesculus L. -- Billia Peyr., nom. cons.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 798.
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, 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, Schopmeyer, C.S. 1974. Seeds of Woody plants in the United States. Agric. Handb. 450:1–883, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and excellent seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Schopmeyer, LeMaout & Decaisne. Seed illustration(s): Karen, Schopmeyer, Baillon, LeMaout & Decaisne. Embryo illustration(s): Karen, Schopmeyer, Baillon, LeMaout & Decasine. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 254: Aesculus glabra Willd. (A-B), Billia hippocastanum Peyr. (C-D).
• Seed. 1 of 3. Aesculus glabra Willd.: seed. • Embryo. 2 of 3. Aesculus glabra Willd.: embryo. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Billia hippocastanum Peyr.: 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’.
