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Common name: Rapatea Family.
Number of genera 17. Number of species 85.
Angiosperm. Liliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; capsule; loculicidal capsule; capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); many-seeded (assumed); many; less than 1 cm long to from 1–5 cm long; 1 cm long; 3-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 (assumed); apex not beaked; dehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent passively; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp yellow; durable; horny; 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 present, or absent (rarely); an arillike structure. Arillike structure falling with seed a caruncle, or an elaisome (Mabberley & Dahlgren et al. for both); when present: white, spongy. Seed larger than minute; less than 1 mm long to 1 to less than 5 mm long; 1–2.5 mm long; oblong, or fusiform, or oval, or pyriform, or circular (sub); in transection terete, or flattened; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without 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; loose; dull; surface unsmooth, or smooth; surface with discreet raised features, or merged raised features; surface muricate; surface faintly reticulate, or striate (longitudinally); 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; brown (all shades); not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Hilum punctate. Endosperm development nuclear; copious; fleshy, or mealy; smooth; with starch; with compound starch grains, or simple starch grains; without fatty acid containing cyclopropene; without apical lobes; without chlorophyll; without isodiametric faceted surface; without odor.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; rudimentary; 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; lenticular; straight; transverse to seed length; lying along one side of endosperm; without coleoptile; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; acotyledonous. Hypocotyl-radicle undeveloped.
Distribution
New World, Old World. South America, Africa (Maschalocephalus sp.).
Notes
Embryo 3 times longer than wide.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Amphiphyllum Gleason -- Cephalostemon R. H. Schomb. -- Duckea Maguire -- Epidryos Maguire -- Guacamaya Maguire -- Kunhardtia Maguire -- Marahuacaea Maguire -- Maschalocephalus Gilg & K. Schum. -- Monotrema Körn. -- Phelpsiella Maguire -- Potarophytum Sandwith -- Rapatea Aubl. -- Saxofridericia R. H. Schomb. -- Schoenocephalium Seub. -- Spathanthus Desv. -- Stegolepis Klotzsch ex Körn. -- Windsorina Gleason
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 1108. Maguire, B. & J.J. Wurdack. 1958a. The botany of the Guayana Highland, Part III. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 10(1):1–156.
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, Engler, A. and K. Prantl. 1924 and onward. Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilimien. W. Engelman, Leipzig, 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.
Illustrations
Poor fruit and seed illustrations. Cronquist has no illustration. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Engler & Prantl. Seed illustration(s): Engler & Prantl, Dahlgren et al. Embryo illustration(s): Engler & Prantl.
• Fruit. 1 of 5. Monotrema aemulans Korn: dehisced fruiting head. • Seed. 2 of 5. Monotrema aemulans Korn: seeds. • Fruit. 3 of 5. Rapatea circasiana Garcia-Barr. & L. E. Mora: fruit with calyx. • Seed. 4 of 5. Rapatea circasiana Garcia-Barr. & L. E. Mora: seed. • Embryo. 5 of 5. Spathanthus unilateralis (Rudge) Desv.: 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’.
