| | Family guide for fruits and seeds |
Common name: Lepidobotrys Family.
Number of genera 2. Number of species 2 (Lepidobotrys staudii Engler & Ruptiliocarpon caracolito Hammel & N. Zamora).
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) 1; 1-pistillate. Fruit pericarpium; simple; capsule; septicidal 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(–2)-seeded; from 1–5 cm long; 2.5–3.5 cm long; 2–3-carpellate; with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; apex not beaked; wall leathery, or woody; dehiscent. Dehiscent unit eventually seed(s), or endocarp(s) (at first). Dehiscent passively; at apex; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp gray to purple; durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; smooth; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; Lepidobotrys leathery, or hard (& woody Ruptiliocarpon); composed of 1 unified layer; without lactiform cavity system. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; bony (Ruptiloiocarpon), or thin (Lepidobotrys); not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; 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, or an arillike structure; red to orange, or red; well developed; adnate to hilum; fleshy; of funicular origin; covering up to 1/3 of seed basal, or encompassing (nearly); does not aid in seed explusion from fruit; fleshy. Arillike structure falling with seed an elaisome. Seed larger than minute; 10 to less than 25 mm long; 10–15 mm long; circular, or elliptic; in transection terete; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without markedly different marginal tissue; 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; black; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons (assumed). Cotyledons 2 (assumed); equal in size; not punctate dotted.
Distribution
New World, Old World. Middle America (Ruptiliocarpon caracolita of Costa Rica), Africa (Lepidobotrys staudtii of Nigeria & Zaire).
Notes
Hammel & Zamora (1993): "Fruit ovoid, exocarp coriaceous to woody, irregularly rupturing and falling away to expose 2 horny endocarps, 1 nearly completely surrounding the seed, the other usually empty and smaller, these also falling away, the larger taking on the shape of a snail shell".
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Lepidobotrys Engl. -- Ruptiliocarpon Hammel & N. Zamora
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 826 (Cronquist & Mabberley have in Oxalidaceae). Hammel, B.E. & N.A. Zamora. 1993. Ruptiliocarpon (Lepidobotryaceae): A new arborescent genus and tropical American link to Africa, with a reconsideration of the family. Novon 3:408–417; Badré, F. 1972a. Lepidobotryaceae. In: A. Aubréville & J.-F. Leroy, eds., Flora du Cameroun, vol 14, pp. 43–46. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris.
General references
Mabberley, D.J. 1987. The plant-book, 706 p. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Illustrations
Poor fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Hammel & Zamora (1993), Badre (1972). Seed illustration(s): Hammel & Zamora (1993), Badre (1972).
• Fruit. 1 of 3. Lepidobotrys staudtii Engl.: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 3. Lepidobotrys staudtii Engl.: seed. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Lepidobotrys staudtii Engl.: 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’.
