| | Family guide for fruits and seeds |
Synonyms: Eremosynaceae Dandy; Francoaceae A. Juss., nom. cons.; Lepuropetalaceae (Engl.) Nakai; Parnassiaceae Martinov, nom. cons.; Penthoraceae Rydb. ex Britton, nom. cons.; Vahliaceae Dandy
Common name: Saxifrage Family.
Number of genera 36. Number of species 475.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or an intact or entire fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple, or multiple; capsule; follicetum; poricidal capsule (Spjut has Penthoroideae & 4 families: Campanulaceae, Loganiaceae, Saxifragraceae, Scrophulariaceae), or pyxidium capsule (Spongberg has Penthoroideae, but Spjut has Vahlia), or septicidal capsule (not Spjut), or loculicidal capsule (not Spjut); capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; without persistent central column; 1-seeded to many-seeded; 1-seeded (to many); 2(–8)-carpellate (2–4(-8)); with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; with carpels not radiating at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; in transection terete; apex beaked; dehiscent, or indehiscent (rarely). Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent at apex, or base; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp brown (all shades); durable; membranous; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; 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 circular, or elliptic; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves, 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; tight, or loose; dull, or shiny; surface smooth, or unsmooth; surface with discreet raised features, or merged raised features, or depressed features; surface punctate; surface echinate, or granular, or papillate, or tuberculate; surface reticulate, or ridged, or striate; 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, or with wing(s); 1-winged; with wing encompassing seed; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; black, or brown (all shades), or red; crustaceous, or thin; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Raphe conspicuous, or inconspicuous; texture as testa; shorter than seed (assumed); included in dehisced fruit. Endosperm development cellular, or helobial, or nuclear (Francoa); copious; fleshy; smooth; without starch; with oils; 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); 0.5–1 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; linear, or foliate, or miniature; with spatulate cotyledons; dwarf (according to Martin for some spp. also could be linear); straight; parallel to seed length; embedded in endosperm; with cotyledons abruptly connected to hypocotyl-radicle, or gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; moderately developed, or well developed, or tiny; 0.1–0.7 times length of embryo; as wide as hypocotyl-radicle, or somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; 1–2 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; not foliaceous; thin; flat; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed, or well developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan (nearly). New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania.
Notes
Goldberg also recognized Francoaceae, Parnassiaceae, Vahliaceae.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
ASOA listed seeds, ISTA listed seeds.
ASOA listed seeds: -- Heuchera sanguinea Engelm. -- Heuchera L. spp. -- Last updated September 2008.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Heuchera sanguinea Engelm.f -- 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
Astilbe Buch.-Ham. ex D. Don -- Astilboides Engl. -- Bensoniella C. V. Morton -- Bergenia Moench, nom. cons. -- Bolandra A. Gray -- Boykinia Nutt., nom. cons. -- Chrysosplenium L. -- Conimitella Rydb. -- Darmera Voss -- Elmera Rydb. -- Eremosyne Endl. -- Francoa Cav. -- Heuchera L. -- Jepsonia Small -- Leptarrhena R. Br. -- Lepuropetalon Elliott -- Lithophragma (Nutt.) Torr. & A. Gray, nom. cons. -- Mitella L. -- Mukdenia Koidz. -- Oresitrophe Bunge -- Parnassia L. -- Peltoboykinia (Engl.) H. Hara -- Penthorum L. -- Rodgersia A. Gray -- Saxifraga L. -- Saxifragella Engl. -- Saxifragodes D. M. Moore -- Saxifragopsis Small -- Suksdorfia A. Gray, nom. cons. -- Sullivantia Torr. & A. Gray -- Tanakaea Franch. & Sav. -- Telesonix Raf. -- Tellima R. Br. -- Tetilla DC. -- Tiarella L. -- Tolmiea Torr. & A. Gray, nom. cons. -- Vahlia Thunb., nom. cons.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 570. Spongberg, S.A. 1972. The genera of Saxifragaceae in the southeastern United States. J. Arnold Arbor. 53(4):409–498; Krach, J.E. 1976. Samenanatomie der Rosifloren I. Die Samen des Saxifragaceae. Bot. Jahrb. Syst. 97:1–60.
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, 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, Martin, A.C. 1946. The comparative internal morphology of seeds. Amer. Midl. Naturalist 36:513–660, 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): Cronquist, Engler & Prantl, Schopmeyer, Wood, Jr., Baillon, Spongberg (1972). Seed illustration(s): Cronquist, Engler & Prantl, Schopmeyer, Wood, Jr., Baillon, Spongberg (1972). Embryo illustration(s): Engler & Prantl, Wood, Jr., Baillon, Martin, Spongberg (1972), LeMaout & Decaisne.
• Fruit. 1 of 5. Astilbe japonica (Morr. & Decne.) A. Gray: fruit with calyx. • Seed. 2 of 5. Astilbe japonica (Morr. & Decne.) A. Gray: seeds. • Fruit. 3 of 5. Saxifraga stolonifera Curt.: fruit with accessory parts. • Seed. 4 of 5. Saxifraga stolonifera Curt.: seeds. • Embryo. 5 of 5. Saxifraga tridactylites 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’.
