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Common name: Lotus-lily Family.
Number of genera 1. Number of species 2 (Nelumbo lutea Willd. & N. nucifera Gaertn.).
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule an intact or entire fruit.
Fruits
Pistil(s) simple; more than 21; 12–40-pistillate. Fruit anthocarp; simple, or schizocarp; acrosarcum (individual fruit?); pomarium (collective fruit; Spjut Fig. 42A & 3 families: Lauraceae, Monimiaceae, Nelumbonaceae); without persistent central column; with styles(s); at apex; within accessory organ(s); within hypanthium; accrescent; persistent; with hypanthium nuts; with hypanthium wall distinct from fruit wall; with hypanthium composed of 1 layer; with hypanthium fibrous; 25 to less than 50-seeded; 12–40-seeded; 12–40-carpellate; with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; with carpels not radiating at maturity; with carpels remaining connected at style; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; in transection terete; apex not beaked; indehiscent. Epicarp brown (all shades); dull; durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; smooth; without wing(s); with apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp absent. 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 without seed bearing hooks (retinacula); not persisting in fruit after seed shed.
Seeds
Aril absent. Seed larger than minute; in transection terete; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity without food reserves (or essentially so, but Dahlgren et al. noted copious & mealy), or with food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without markedly different marginal tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; 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; thin; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo. Endosperm development nuclear and cellular (later).
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; completely filling testa (no food reserve) (or essentially so); 0.5–1.2 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; foliate; with investing cotyledons; straight; parallel to seed length; with cotyledons abruptly connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2 (but connate by margins for most of their length); well developed; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; entirely concealing hypocotyl-radicle; not foliaceous; massive; smooth; with apices entire; with margins connate (forming well developed sheath around green plumule); basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed; straight; not thickened. Plumule well developed; terminal between 2 cotyledons (& foliaceous).
Distribution
New World, Old World. Eastern USA North America, Middle America, South America, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, and Australia.
Weed information
1 or more USA state noxious weeds.
USA states and territories with listed noxious weeds: Connecticut (CT), Puerto Rico (PR).
USA state and territory noxious weeds: -- Nelumbo lutea Willd.: USA state noxious weed: CTª, PRª. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
Listed seeds
ISTA listed seeds.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn. -- 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
Nelumbo Adans.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 107.
General references
Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, Dahlgren, R.M.T., H.T. Clifford and P.F. Yeo. 1985. The families of the monocotyledons, 520 pp. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, 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
Acceptable fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Gaertner, Cronquist, Karen. Embryo illustration(s): Karen, LeMaout & Decaisne. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 025: Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.(A-B).
• Fruit. 1 of 3. Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 3. Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.: seed. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.: 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’.
