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Common name: Mayaca Family.
Number of genera 1. Number of species 4.
Angiosperm. Liliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; capsule; loculicidal capsule, or foraminicidal capsule (Spjut Fig. 32A); capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s), or within accessory organ(s); within petals and sepals (& stamen); more than 1 but less than 10-seeded to 10 to less than 25-seeded; 6–12-seeded; less than 1 cm long to from 5.1–10 cm long; 0.2–0.6 cm long (-7.5); 3-carpellate; with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; with carpels not radiating at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; apex not beaked; wall membranaceous; dehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp durable; not glabrous (with hairs); hairs not glandular; 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 absent. Seed larger than minute, or minute; less than 1 mm long to 1 to less than 5 mm long; 0.75–2.5 mm long; circular, or ovate, or obovate (& terminated by embryostegia); in transection terete; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; with caudate appendage(s) (short cusp, 0.15–0.4 mm long); at maturity with food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without markedly different marginal tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; loose; dull; surface unsmooth; surface with depressed features, or merged raised features; surface scobiculate; surface ribbed, or reticulate, or rugose, or striate (seriated transvere swellings giving appearance of); 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; with operculum (embryostega); colored; monochrome; black, or brown (all shades), or red (dark); thick; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Endosperm development nuclear; copious; mealy; smooth; with starch; with simple starch grains, or compound starch grains (depending on author); with proteins; without fatty acid containing cyclopropene; without apical lobes; without chlorophyll; without isodiametric faceted surface; without odor.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed, or rudimentary; 1 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve); 0.1–0.3 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; basal; lenticular; transverse to seed length; capping one end of endosperm (& 1/2 buried); without coleoptile; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; acotyledonous. Hypocotyl-radicle undeveloped.
Distribution
New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Africa (tropical west).
Notes
Embryo 1.6 times wider than long to 1.3 times longer than wide. Small embryo at the top, capped by a small embryostegium.
Weed information
1 or more USA state noxious weeds.
USA states and territories with listed noxious weeds: Puerto Rico (PR).
USA state and territory noxious weeds: -- Mayaca fluviatilis Aubl.: USA state noxious weed: PRª. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Mayaca Aubl.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 1110. Horn af Rantzien, H. 1946. Notes on the Mayacaceae of the Regnellian Herbarium in the Riksmuseum, Stockholm. Svensk Bot. Tidskr. 40:405–424; Thieret, J.W. 1975. The Mayacaceae in the southeastern United States. J. Arnold Arbor. 56:248–255; Venturelli, M. & F. Bounam. 1986. Embryology and seed developent in Mayaca fluviatilis (Mayacaceae). Acta Bot. Neerl. 35(4):497–516.
General references
Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, Engler, A. and K. Prantl. 1924 and onward. Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilimien. W. Engelman, Leipzig, 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, Martin, A.C. 1946. The comparative internal morphology of seeds. Amer. Midl. Naturalist 36:513–660, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Thieret (1975)., Engler & Prantl, Cronquist. Seed illustration(s): Karen, Thieret (1975), Engler & Prantl, Cronquist. Embryo illustration(s): Karen, Thieret (1975), Engler & Prantl, Martin. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 343: Mayaca michauxii Schott & Endl. (A-B).
• Fruit. 1 of 3. Mayaca fluviatilis Aubl.: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 3. Mayaca fluviatilis Aubl.: seeds. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Mayaca fluviatilis Aubl.: 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’.
