| | Family guide for fruits and seeds |
Synonyms: Artocarpaceae Bercht. & J. Presl; Ficaceae bercht. & J. Presl
Common name: Mulberry Family.
Number of genera 37. Number of species 1200.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or an intact or entire fruit, or an incomplete fruit with epicarp and mesocarp absent and endocarp exposed, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound, or simple; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels nearly separate to base, or carpels united. Fruit anthocarp; simple, or compound; pseudodrupe; trymosum (Dorstenia Spjut 2 families: Fagaceae, Moraceae), or syconium (Ficus Spjut Fig. 51C-D & only family), or sorosus (Spjut Fig. 50E); without persistent central column; with styles(s); at apex; within accessory organ(s), or not within accessory organ(s); within calyx, or hypanthium, or perianth, or gynophore; accrescent; persistent; soft calyx; with hypanthium drupes, or achenes, or pseudodrupes; 1(–3)-carpellate (1–2(-3)); with carpels separate (but united by hypanthium); with carpels not radiating at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; in transection terete; apex not beaked; indehiscent, or dehiscent. Dehiscent unit endocarp(s). Dehiscent without replum. Epicarp orange; dull; durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; fleshy; composed of 1 unified layer; without lactiform cavity system. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; thin, or hard, or woody; 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 not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves, or without food reserves, or without apparent food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present, or absent; without embryo surrounded and capped by viscid tissue; without markedly different marginal tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; surface smooth, or unsmooth; surface with merged raised features; surface rugose; 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); crustaceous, or membranous, or thin; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo, or surrounding food reserve. Hilum larger than punctate; marginal. Endosperm development nuclear; copious; fleshy; smooth; with oils; without fatty acid containing cyclopropene; without apical lobes; without chlorophyll; without isodiametric faceted surface; without odor.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; completely filling testa (no food reserve) to nearly filling testa (trace or scanty food reserve); 1.5–1.7 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; foliate; with spatulate cotyledons; straight, or bent, or arcuate, or C-shaped, or annular, or J-shaped; parallel to seed length; embedded in endosperm; with cotyledons abruptly connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; green, or not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; scarcely differentiated to moderately developed; 0.5–0.6 times length of embryo; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; 2–2.7 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; thin to thick; convoluted, or flat; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; unequal in size, or equal in size; more or less unequal, or markedly unequal (occasionally 1 cotyledon is wholly compressed); not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed; spirally twisted, or curved; not thickened.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan. New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania.
Weed information
1 or more USA state noxious weeds.
USA states and territories with listed noxious weeds: Alabama (AL).
USA state and territory noxious weeds: -- Fatoua villosa (Thunb.) Nakai: USA state noxious weed: AL●. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
Listed seeds
ISTA listed seeds.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Artocarpus heterophyllus Lam. -- Brosimum paraense Huber = Brosimum rubescens Taub. -- Brosimum rubescens Taub. -- Broussonetia papyrifera (L.) Vent.w -- Ficus benghalensis L. -- Ficus benjamina L. -- Ficus carica L.w -- Ficus elastica Roxb. ex Hornem. -- Ficus macrophylla Desf. ex Pers. -- Ficus microcarpa L. f.w -- Ficus religiosa L. -- Ficus retusa auct., non L. = Ficus microcarpa L. f. -- Maclura pomifera (Raf.) C. K. Schneid. -- Morus alba L.t -- Morus nigra 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
Antiaris Lesch., nom. cons. -- Antiaropsis K. Schum. -- Artocarpus J. R. Forst. & G. Forst., nom. cons. -- Bagassa Aubl. -- Batocarpus H. Karst. -- Bosqueiopsis De Wild. & T. Durand -- Brosimum Sw., nom. cons. -- Broussonetia L'Hér. ex Vent., nom. cons. -- Castilla Cerv. -- Clarisia Ruiz & Pav., nom. cons. -- Dorstenia L. -- Fatoua Gaudich. -- Ficus L. -- Helianthostylis Baill. -- Helicostylis Trécul -- Hullettia King ex Hook. f. -- Maclura Nutt., nom. cons. -- Maquira Aubl. -- Mesogyne Engl. -- Metatrophis F. Br. -- Milicia Sim -- Morus L. -- Naucleopsis Miq. -- Parartocarpus Baill. -- Perebea Aubl. -- Poulsenia Eggers -- Prainea King ex Hook. f. -- Pseudolmedia Trécul -- Scyphosyce Baill. -- Sorocea A. St.-Hil. -- Sparattosyce Bureau -- Streblus Lour. -- Treculia Decne. ex Trécul -- Trilepisium Thouars -- Trophis P. Browne, nom. cons. -- Trymatococcus Poepp. & Endl. -- Utsetela Pellegr.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 195.
General references
Corner, E.J.H. 1976. The seeds of Dicots, esp. vol. 2. Cambridge University Press, New York, 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, 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, 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, Martin, A.C. 1946. The comparative internal morphology of seeds. Amer. Midl. Naturalist 36:513–660, 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, Wight, R. 1840–1853. Icones plantarum Indiae orientalis, 6 vols. J.B. Pharoah, Madras, Wood, C.E., Jr. 1974. A student's atlas of flowering plants: Some dicotyledons of eastern North America, 120 pp. Harper and Row, New York.
Illustrations
Acceptable to poor fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or fruit incomplete, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Wood, Jr., Schopmeyer, Cronquist, LeMaout & Decaisne, Gaertner, Roosmalen. Fruit illustration(s): Schopmeyer. Seed illustration(s): Schopmeyer, Wood, Jr. Embryo illustration(s): Schopmeyer, Wood, Jr., LeMaout & Decasine, Martin.
• Seed. 1 of 11. Artocarpus integer (Thunb.) Merr.: seed. • Fruit. 2 of 11. Castilla elastica Sessé: fruiting heads. • Seed. 3 of 11. Castilla elastica Sessé: seeds. • Fruit. 4 of 11. Dorstenia sp.: fruit with seeds exposed. • Seed. 5 of 11. Dorstenia sp.: seeds. • Fruit. 6 of 11. Ficus benjamina L.: fruit. • Fruit and seed. 7 of 11. Ficus benjamina L.: fruit with seeds exposed. • Seed. 8 of 11. Ficus benjamina L.: seeds. • Seed. 9 of 11. Morus alba L.: seeds. • Embryo. 10 of 11. Maclura pomifera (Raf.) C. K. Schneid.: embryo. • Embryo. 11 of 11. Morus alba L.: 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’.
