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Common name: Pentaphylax Family.
Number of genera 1. Number of species 1 (Pentaphylax euryoides Gardner & Champ.).
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; capsule; ceratium capsule (Spjut), or loculicidal capsule (other authors but not Spjut); capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; with persistent central column; valves not diverging at top of central column; not within accessory organ(s); 1-seeded to more than 1 but less than 10-seeded; 1–5-seeded; less than 1 cm long; 0.5–0.9 cm long; 5-carpellate; with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; with carpels not radiating at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; apex not beaked; dehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent at apex; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp black (eventually); durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; smooth; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. 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; 1 to less than 5 mm long, or 5 to less than 10 mm long; 4.5–6.5 mm long; oblong; in transection compressed; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; with winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); 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; tight; surface unsmooth; surface with merged raised features; surface reticulate; 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, or with wing(s) (at least winglike); 1-winged; with wing at one end; with wing(s) solid; with solid wing(s) similar to testa; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; red; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Endosperm scant.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve); chamber basal to wing (assumed); 2 times the length of food reserve (estimated); at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; peripheral; linear; arcuate (horseshoe); surrounding endosperm (assumed); with cotyledons gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.5–0.7 times length of embryo; as wide as hypocotyl-radicle; 1 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; not foliaceous; thin; flat; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Old World. Asia Major and southeastern Asia (southern China to Malay Peninsula & Sumatra).
Notes
Steenis vol. 5, part 2: "Capsule ellipsoid, loculicidally dehiscent in the upper half or down to the base, valves long persistent, each bearing a septum along the middle; exocarp either freed and withering or disruptured along the midrib of the carpel, midribs persistent, representing 5 additional narrow 'valves'; endocarp and septa woody, after dehiscing leaving a persistent, more or less angular columnella Endocarp and seedcoat showing a preculiar transverse-fibrous tissue".
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Pentaphylax Gardner & Champ.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 327.
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, 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, Steenis, C.G.G.J. van, ed. 1950 onwards. Flora Malesiana, ser. 1. Spermatophyta. Noordhoff-Kolff, Djakarta.
Illustrations
Poor fruit and acceptable seed illustration. Cronquist has no illustration. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Steenis vol. 5, part 2. Seed illustration(s): Karen. Embryo illustration(s): Karen. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 088: Pentaphylax euryoides Gardn. & Champ. (A-B).
• Fruit. 1 of 3. Pentaphylax euryoides Gardn. & Champ.: dehisced fruit. • Seed. 2 of 3. Pentaphylax euryoides Gardn. & Champ.: seeds. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Pentaphylax euryoides Gardn. & Champ.: 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’.
