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Common name: Kirkia Family.
Number of genera 2. Number of species 3 (Kirkia acuminata Oliv., K. wilmsii Engl., Pleiokirkia of Madagascar).
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule an intact or entire fruit.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; schizocarp; microbasarium; with persistent central column; solid central column shaft; valves diverging from top of central column (resembling umbrella ribs); with stylar remenant(s); at apex; not within accessory organ(s); more than 1 but less than 10-seeded; 4–6-seeded; less than 1 cm long, or from 1–5 cm long; 0.6–2.5 cm long; 8–12-carpellate; with carpels united; with carpels separating at maturity; with carpels not radiating at maturity; with carpels remaining connected at style; with sterile carpels; without fleshy lateral appendage; not sulcate; in transection triangular; 3-angled; apex not beaked; wall crustaceous to firm to woody; indehiscent. Epicarp brown (all shades); dull; durable; crustaceous; glabrous (without hairs), or not glabrous (with hairs); hairs short; hairs not glandular; without armature; smooth; with wing(s); 2-winged (permericarp, 8 per fruit); with wing(s) lateral; without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; dry and hard; composed of 1 unified layer; without lactiform cavity system; and endocarp sharply differentiated. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; thin; not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; stone plurilocular; stone 8–12-loculate (in 4–6 mericarps); smooth; without wing; without operculum; without secretory cavities; without mechanism for seedling escape; with grooves; 3-grooved; 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; slightly curved; in transection triangular; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; without glands; without bristles; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; partially filling testa (with food reserve); at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green.
Distribution
Old World. Africa (tropical, and Madagascar).
Notes
Stannerd (1981): "Fruit woody, composed of triquetrous mericarps suspended from the top of a central carpophore, each mericarp with the remaining base of one of the previously coherent styles relaxed back over its apex".
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Kirkia Oliv. -- Pleiokirkia Capuron
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 811 (Cronquist & Mabberley have in Simaroubiaceae). Stannard, B. 1981. A revision of Kirkia (Simaroubaceae). Kew Bull 35:829–839; Wyk, B. van & P. van Wyk. 1997. Field guide to trees of southern Africa. Struik, Cape Town.
General references
Mabberley, D.J. 1987. The plant-book, 706 p. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Illustrations
Poor fruit and no seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Stannard (1981).
• Fruit. 1 of 3. Kirkia acuminata Oliv.: fruits. • Seed. 2 of 3. Kirkia acuminata Oliv.: seeds. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Kirkia acuminata Oliv.: 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’.
