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Common name: Olinia Family.
Number of genera 1. Number of species 8.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule an intact or entire fruit.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; Myrrhimium, Fenzlia & not Spjut berry, or drupe (Olinia); without persistent central column; crowned by rim (calyptra scar), or sepals; not within accessory organ(s); more than 1 but less than 10-seeded; 3–5-seeded; 3–5-carpellate; with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; in transection terete; apex not beaked; indehiscent. Epicarp durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; smooth; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; fleshy, or dry (rarely); composed of 1 unified layer; without lactiform cavity system. Endocarp present, or absent; not separating from exocarp; hard; stone unilocular, or plurilocular; stone 1–5-loculate; 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 minute (assumed); not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity without food reserves; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without markedly different marginal tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; 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; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; completely filling testa (no food reserve); 1 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; flatly coiled (circinate) (spiral or arched or rolled); parallel to seed length; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; with cotyledons containing oils; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons, or acotyledonous. Cotyledons 2; irregularly-folded, or twisted (spiral or arched); with margins separate; unequal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle small; not thickened.
Distribution
Old World. Africa (southern and St. Helena Island).
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Olinia Thunb., nom. cons.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 648.
General references
Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, 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. Cronquist has no illustration. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): LeMaout & Decaisne. Seed illustration(s): Karen. Embryo illustration(s): Karen. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 197: Olinia aequipetula (Delile) Cufod. (A-B).
• Fruit. 1 of 3. Olinia aequipetala Delile) Cufod.: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 3. Olinia aequipetala Delile) Cufod.: seeds. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Olinia aequipetala Delile) Cufod.: 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’.
