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Common name: Pteridophyllum Family.
Number of genera 1. Number of species 1 (Pteridophyllum racemosum Siebold & Zucc.).
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a partial fruit (a segment of an entire fruit), or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) simple; 1; 1-pistillate. Fruit pericarpium; simple; capsule; capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; without persistent central column; more than 1 but less than 10-seeded; 2-seeded; 1-carpellate; not sulcate; in transection compressed; apex not beaked, or beaked; apex short beaked; wall uniform; dehiscent. Dehiscent unit "fruit". Dehiscent regularly; passively; at apex; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp green to brown (all shades); durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Endocarp -U but assumed. 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; 1.5–2 mm long; C-shaped; in transection compressed; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Testa present; without markedly different marginal tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; dull; surface unsmooth; surface with merged raised features; surface reticulate; with crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle; with notch along margin where cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle tip approaching each other; without glands; without bristles; glabrous; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; brown (all shades) (straw-colored); not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Raphe inconspicuous. Endosperm 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); 0.1 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; basal; linear; lenticular; straight; parallel to seed length; embedded in endosperm; with cotyledons gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; scarcely differentiated; not divaricate; as wide as hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; not foliaceous; flat; smooth; with apices entire; basally entire; equal in size, or unequal in size; more or less unequal; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle small; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Old World. Asia Major (Japan).
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Pteridophyllum Siebold & Zucc.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 145 (in Fumariaceae in Cronquist & Mabberley). Gunn, C.R. 1980. Seeds and fruits of Papaveraceae and Fumariaceae. Seed Sci. Technol. 8:3–58.
Illustrations
Poor fruit and S. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed. Fruit illustration(s): Gunn (1980). Seed illustration(s): Gunn (1980). Embryo illustration(s): Gunn (1980).
• Fruit and seed. 1 of 2. Pteridophyllum racemosum Sieb. & Zucc.: fruit and seeds. • Embryo. 2 of 2. Pteridophyllum racemosum Sieb. & Zucc.: 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’.
