| | Family guide for fruits and seeds |
Synonyms: Rhodolaenaceae Bullock; Schizolaenaceae Barnhart
Common name: Sarcolaena Family.
Number of genera 10. Number of species 39.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or an intact or entire fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound, or simple; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; capsule; loculicidal capsule; capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; without persistent central column; with styles(s); at apex; within accessory organ(s); within bracts, or cupule; connate; persistent; 1-seeded; 1-seeded; (1–)3(–5)-carpellate ((1-)3–4(5)); with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; with carpels not radiating at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; in transection terete; apex not beaked; indehiscent, or dehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp durable; 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 absent. Seed not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves, or without food reserves (rarely), or without apparent 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 (assumed); surface unsmooth; surface with merged raised features; surface rugose; without glands; without bristles; glabrous; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; coriaceous; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve, or surrounding embryo. Endosperm copious; fleshy, or hard; with starch; 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), or nearly filling testa (trace or scanty food reserve), or completely filling testa (no food reserve); 0.5–1 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; foliate; with spatulate cotyledons, or investing cotyledons; straight; parallel to seed length; embedded in endosperm; with cotyledons abruptly connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed, or moderately developed; 0.5 times length of embryo; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; 2 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; partially concealing hypocotyl-radicle, or not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; foliaceous; thin, or thick; flat, or undulate, or plicate; undulate; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally cordate, or entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Old World. Africa (only Madagascar).
Notes
Spjut did not score the indehiscent fruit with 1 or few seeds (only 1 carpel maturing). Mabberley & Airy Shaw.: "occasionally enclosed in woody sac, often surrounded by lignified bracts or a cupule".
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Eremolaena Baill. -- Leptolaena Thouars -- Mediusella (Cavaco) Dorr -- Pentachlaena H. Perrier -- Perrierodendron Cavaco -- Rhodolaena Thouars -- Sarcolaena Thouars -- Schizolaena Thouars -- Xerochlamys Baker -- Xyloolaena Baill.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 315. Gérard, F. 1919. Étude systématique, morphologique et anatomique des Chlaenacées. Ann. Inst. Bot.-Géol. Colon. Marseille, sér. 3, 7:1–135; Nebell, G.F. 1811. Zwei neue Pflanzen aus Madagascar, namlich die Sarcolaena grandiflora und Sarcolaena multflora. Allg. Teutsch. Gart.-Mag. 11:85–88, tab 9 & 10.
General references
Baillon, H.E. 1866–95. Histoire des plantes, 13 vols. Hachette and Co., Paris, 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, 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, Hutchinson, J. 1964. The families of flowering plants, vol. I. Dicotyledons. Clarendon Press, Oxford, 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): Allgemeines Garten-Magazin (1811), Baillon, Hutchinson, Pflanzenfam. Seed illustration(s): Baillon, Engler & Prantl.
• Fruit. 1 of 3. Sarcolaena multiflora Thouars: fruits. • Seed. 2 of 3. Sarcolaena multiflora Thouars: seeds. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Leptolaena multiflora Thouars: 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’.
