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Synonyms: Azimaceae Wight & Gardner
Common name: Mustard-tree Family.
Number of genera 3. Number of species 11.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule an intact or entire fruit.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; drupe, or berry (not Spjut); berry indehiscent; berry without central placental mass; without persistent central column; within accessory organ(s); within sepals (sepals at base); 1-seeded to more than 1 but less than 10-seeded; 1–4-seeded (really 4–1); 2-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; apex not beaked; indehiscent. Epicarp durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present. Endocarp present, or absent; not separating from exocarp; thin, or hard; not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; without operculum; without secretory cavities; 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 to 5 to less than 10 mm long; 5 mm long; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity without food reserves, or with food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent, or present; fleshy (pulpy). Testa present; without markedly different marginal tissue; 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; glabrous; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; brown (all shades); fleshy (pulpy); not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo. Raphe conspicuous; texture as testa; included in dehisced fruit. Endosperm development nuclear.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; 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; 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; 0.8–0.9 times length of embryo; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; 4 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; entirely concealing hypocotyl-radicle, or partially concealing hypocotyl-radicle; foliaceous; moderately thick; flat; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally cordate; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed, or small; curved, or straight (slightly); not thickened.
Distribution
Old World. Africa, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia (to southeastern China).
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Azima Lam. -- Dobera Juss. -- Salvadora L.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 717.
General references
Baillon, H.E. 1866–95. Histoire des plantes, 13 vols. Hachette and Co., Paris, 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, Engler, A. and K. Prantl. 1924 and onward. Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilimien. W. Engelman, Leipzig, 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, 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 acceptable fruit illustrations. Cronquist has no illustration. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Baillon. Seed illustration(s): Karen. Embryo illustration(s): Baillon, Corner, Karen. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 222: Azima tetracantha Lam. (A-B), Dobera glabra A. DC. (C-D), Salvadora persica L. (E-F).
• Fruit. 1 of 5. Salvadora persica L.: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 5. Salvadora persica L.: seeds. • Embryo. 3 of 5. Azima tetracantha Lam.: embryo. • Embryo. 4 of 5. Dobera glabra (Forssk.) Juss. ex Poir.: embryo. • Embryo. 5 of 5. Salvadora persica 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’.
