| | Family guide for fruits and seeds |
Common name: Nutmeg Family.
Number of genera 19. Number of species 400.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or an intact or entire fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; coccum, or camara (3 familes: Connaraceae, Myristicaceae, Proteaceae); berry dehiscent; without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); less than 1 cm long to from 5.1–10 cm long; 1–5.2 cm long; 1-carpellate ("conduplicate"); not sulcate; in transection terete; apex not beaked; wall fleshy to leathery; dehiscent, or indehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent regularly; passively (assumed); at apex; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp green, or yellow, or red; durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; smooth; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; fleshy; composed of 1 unified layer; without lactiform cavity system. Endocarp present, or absent; not separating from exocarp; thin; not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; without operculum; without secretory cavities; without longitudinal ridges. Funiculus short; short with seed bearing hooks (retinacula), or without seed bearing hooks (retinacula); not persisting in fruit after seed shed.
Seeds
Aril mostly present, or absent; a true aril; yellow, or red, or purple, or orange; well developed; adnate to hilum; dry; of micropylar origin; encompassing; fleshy, or waxy; fimbriate-laciniate, or entire; with straight hairlike fringe; unlobed. Seed larger than minute; 10 to less than 25 mm long to 25 to less than 50 mm long; 10–50 mm long; elliptic, or circular (sub); in transection terete; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; surface smooth, or unsmooth; surface with depressed features, or merged raised features; surface longitudinally grooved (because of aril lobes); surface reticulate, or ribbed, or striate, or wrinkled; 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), or black, or white, or yellow (pale); hard; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Hilum larger than punctate (assumed). Raphe conspicuous. Endosperm development nuclear; copious; ruminate, or smooth; without starch, or with starch; 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; 1 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve); 0.2 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; basal; foliate; straight; parallel to seed length; embedded in endosperm; with cotyledons abruptly connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons, or acotyledonous (connate). Cotyledons 2; well developed; divaricate; 0.7 times length of embryo; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; foliaceous, or not foliaceous; flat, or once-folded and rugose; with apices entire; with margins separate, or connate (or only occasionally at base); basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle small; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Pantropical. New World, Old World. Middle America, South America, Africa, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania.
Notes
Spjut with note about coccum: "Many fruits that appear indehiscent are probably samaras".
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
ISTA listed seeds.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Myristica fragrans Houtt. -- Pycnanthus angolensis (Welw.) Warb. -- Virola koschnyi Warb. -- Virola surinamensis (Rol. ex Rottb.) Warb. -- 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
Bicniba W. J. de Wilde -- Brochoneura Warb. -- Cephalosphaera Warb. -- Coelocaryon Warb. -- Compsoneura (A. DC.) Warb. -- Endocomia W. J. de Wilde -- Gymnacranthera (A. DC.) Warb. -- Haematodendron Capuron -- Horsfieldia Willd. -- Iryanthera (A. DC.) Warb. -- Knema Lour. -- Mauloutchia Warb. -- Myristica Gronov., nom. cons. -- Osteophloeum Warb. -- Otoba (DC.) H. Karst. -- Paramyristica W. J. de Wilde -- Pycnanthus Warb. -- Scyphocephalium Warb. -- Staudtia Warb. -- Virola Aubl.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 55.
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, Engler, A. and K. Prantl. 1924 and onward. Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilimien. W. Engelman, Leipzig, 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, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
Poor fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): LeMaout & Decaisne, Engler & Prantl, Gaertner. Seed illustration(s): Karen, Gaertner, Engler & Prantl, LeMaout & Decaisne. Embryo illustration(s): Karen, Gaertner, Engler & Prantl, LeMaout & Decaisne. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 009: Compsoneura sprucei Warb. D-F), Otoba novogranatensis Moldenke (Dialyanthera otoba (Humb. & Bonpl.) Warb.) (A-C), Iryanthera laevis Markgr. (G-I), Knema heterophylla Warb. (J-L). Myristica malabarica Lam. (M-O), Virola carinata Warb. (P-R).
• Fruit. 1 of 11. Horsfieldia irya (Gaertn.) Warb.: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 11. Horsfieldia irya (Gaertn.) Warb.: seed. • Seed. 3 of 11. Myristica fragrans Houtt.: seed with aril. • Fruit. 4 of 11. Virola elongata Warb.: fruit. • Seed. 5 of 11. Virola elongata Warb.: seeds. • Embryo. 6 of 11. Compsoneura sprucei (A. DC.) Warburg: embryo. • Embryo. 7 of 11. Iryanthera laevis Markgr.: embryo. • Embryo. 8 of 11. Knema heterophylla (Vill.) Warb.: embryo. • Embryo. 9 of 11. Myristica malabarica Lam.: embryo. • Embryo. 10 of 11. Otoba novogranatensis Moldenke: embryo. • Embryo. 11 of 11. Virola carinata (Benth.) Warb.: 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’.
