| | Family guide for fruits and seeds |
Common name: Willow Family.
Number of genera 2. Number of species 335.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1 to more than 21; 1-U; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple, or compound; capsule; capsiconum (Spjut 5 families: Cunoniaceae, Hamamelidaceae, Myrtaceae, Salicaceae (many spp. shed whole catkin once seeds are ripe, or if catkins persistent then fruit a loculicidal capsule), Saururaceae); loculicidal capsule; capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); many-seeded; many; 2–4-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; apex not beaked, or beaked; apex short beaked; dehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent passively; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp brown (all shades); dull; durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; smooth; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp absent. 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 minute; ovate; in transection terete; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity without food reserves, or without apparent food reserves, or 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 smooth; 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; pubescent; with tuft of hairs at one end (coma); with long hairs; densely hairy (wooly); with straight hairs; without glandular pubescence; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; membranous; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo, or surrounding food reserve. Hilum punctate. Endosperm development nuclear; very thin.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; nearly filling testa (trace or scanty food reserve), or 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; axile and centric; foliate; with investing cotyledons; straight; parallel to seed length; with cotyledons abruptly connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.5–0.8 times length of embryo; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; 3 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; partially concealing hypocotyl-radicle; thin; convoluted; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle small, or moderately developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan (except Australia & Malay Archipelago). New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia.
Notes
Fine testa hairs arise from placenta instead of over the testa surface like Tamaricaceae.
Weed information
1 or more USA state noxious weeds.
USA states and territories with listed noxious weeds: Connecticut (CT), Puerto Rico (PR).
USA state and territory noxious weeds: -- Populus alba: USA state noxious weed: CT-- Salix spp.: USA state noxious weed: PR●. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
Listed seeds
ASOA listed seeds, ISTA listed seeds.
ASOA listed seeds: -- Populus balsamifera subsp. balsamifera L. -- Populus balsamifera subsp. trichocarpa (Torr. & A. Gray) Brayshaw -- Populus deltoides W. Bartram ex Marshall -- Populus L. spp. -- Populus tremuloides Michx. -- Populus trichocarpa Torr. & A. Gray = Populus balsamifera subsp. trichocarpa (Torr. & A. Gray) Brayshaw -- Salix nigra Marshall -- Salix L. spp. -- Last updated September 2008.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Populus alba L.t -- Populus balsamifera L.t -- Populus balsamifera subsp. trichocarpa (Torr. & A. Gray) Brayshaw = Populus trichocarpa Torr. & A. Gray -- Populus nigra L.t -- Populus tremula L.t -- Populus tremuloides Michx.t -- Populus trichocarpa Torr. & A. Grayt -- Salix alba L.t -- Salix babylonica L.t -- Salix elegantissima K. Koch = Salix × pendulina Wender. -- Salix × pendulina Wender.t -- Salix viminalis L.t -- Symbols: aagricultural and vegetable seeds (Table 2A Part 1); ttree and shrub species (Table 2A Part 2); fflower, spice, herb, and medicinal seeds (Table 2A Part 3); wweed seeds. -- Last updated September 2008.
Accepted genera
Chosenia Nakai -- Populus L. -- Salix L., nom. cons. prop.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 433.
General references
Corner, E.J.H. 1976. The seeds of Dicots, esp. vol. 2. Cambridge University Press, New York, Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, Gaertner, J. 1788–1805. De fructibus et seminibus plantarum. The Author, Stuttgart, 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, Schopmeyer, C.S. 1974. Seeds of Woody plants in the United States. Agric. Handb. 450:1–883, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182, Wood, C.E., Jr. 1974. A student's atlas of flowering plants: Some dicotyledons of eastern North America, 120 pp. Harper and Row, New York.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): LeMaout & Decaisne, Schopmeyer, Wood, Jr.,Cronquist. Seed illustration(s): LeMaout & Decaisne, Schopmeyer, Wood, Jr., Cronquist, Karen. Embryo illustration(s): Schopmeyer, Wood, Jr., Karen. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 131: Populus euphratica Oliv.(A-B), Salix pentandra L. (C-D).
• Fruit. 1 of 4. Salix pentandra L.: dehisced fruit with coma hairs. • Seed. 2 of 4. Salix pentandra L.: seeds without coma. • Embryo. 3 of 4. Populus euphratica Olivier: embryo. • Embryo. 4 of 4. Salix pentandra L.: 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’.
