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Common name: Physena Family.
Number of genera 1. Number of species 1 (Physena madagascariensis Thouars ex Tul.).
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit (??), or an intact or entire fruit (??), or a seed (??).
Fruits
Fruit without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s), or within accessory organ(s); within calyx; 1-seeded; 1-seeded; without sterile carpels; apex not beaked. Epicarp durable; without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Funiculus short; short without seed bearing hooks (retinacula); not persisting in fruit after seed shed.
Seeds
Aril present. Seed larger than minute; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; 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; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve (assumed); well developed; without coleorhiza; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons (assumed). Cotyledons 2 (assumed); equal in size; not punctate dotted.
Distribution
Old World. Africa (only Madagascar).
Notes
The genus, now a family, was in Flacourtiaceae, and literature source was Engler & Prantl [3(4A):54–55].
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Physena Noronha ex Thouars
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 443 (Cronquist & Mabberley have in Capparaceae). Morton, C.M., K.G. Karol, & M.W. Chase. 1997. Taxonomic affinities of Physena (Physenaceae) and Asteropeia (Theaceae). Bot. Review 63:231–239.
General references
Engler, A. and K. Prantl. 1924 and onward. Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilimien. W. Engelman, Leipzig, 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.
Illustrations
No fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo.
• Fruit. 1 of 3. Physena madagascariensis Thouars ex Tul.: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 3. Physena madagascariensis Thouars ex Tul.: seeds. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Physena madagascariensis Thouars ex Tul.: 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’.
