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Common name: Scheuchzeria Family.
Number of genera 1. Number of species 1 (Scheuchzeria palustris L.).
Angiosperm. Liliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 2–5; 3-pistillate; with carpels nearly separate to base. Fruit pericarpium; multiple, or simple; follicle (not Spjut); follicetum; without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); more than 1 but less than 10-seeded; few; 3(–6)-carpellate; with carpels separate; with carpels radiating at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; apex not beaked; dehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp brown (all shades) (assumed); dull; durable; 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 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. Testa present; without markedly different marginal tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; shiny; 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; glabrous; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; brown (all shades) (assumed); not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo. Endosperm development upon formation helobial, nuclear, and cellular (then nuclear then cellular).
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; linear; straight; parallel to seed length; without coleoptile; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 1 cotyledon. Cotyledons one and terminal with lateral plumule; not modified into scutellum; not circinately coiled. Plumule small.
Distribution
Northern Hemisphere. New World, Old World. North America, Europe, Asia Major (??), southeastern Asia (??).
Notes
Do heads fall intact or individual follicles? Or are seeds shed from open follicles while still in the heads?.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Scheuchzeria L. --
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 1061.
General references
Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, 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
Acceptable fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Cronquist, Goldberg. Seed illustration(s): Cronquist, Karen. Embryo illustration(s): Karen. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 325: Scheuchzeria palustris L. (A-B).
• Fruit. 1 of 3. Scheuchzeria palustris L.: fruits. • Seed. 2 of 3. Scheuchzeria palustris L.: seeds. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Scheuchzeria palustris 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’.
