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Common name: Schisandra Family.
Number of genera 2. Number of species 47.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule an intact or entire fruit.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; multiple, or simple; berry (not Spjut); baccetum (Spjut 6 families: Annonaceae, Austrobaileyaceae, Lardizabalaceae, Ranunculaceae, Schisandraceae, Winteraceae); without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); many-seeded; many; 12–300-carpellate (20–30); with carpels separate; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; in transection terete; apex not beaked; wall fleshy; indehiscent. Epicarp durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; smooth; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; fleshy; composed of 1 unified layer; without lactiform cavity system. Endocarp absent. Funiculus short; short without seed bearing hooks (retinacula); not persisting in fruit after seed shed.
Seeds
Aril absent. Seed larger than minute; 10 to less than 25 mm long; 15 mm long, or 19 mm long; D-shaped, or reniform; in transection flattened; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity 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, or unsmooth; with crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle, or without crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle; with notch along margin where cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle tip approaching each other; without glands; without bristles; glabrous; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; yellow, or brown (all shades) (including gray-); not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Hilum larger than punctate. Endosperm development cellular; copious; smooth; with 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); 0.2 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric, or basal; miniature; straight; oblique to seed length; embedded in endosperm; with cotyledons gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; scale-like; divaricate; 0.5 times length of embryo; as wide as hypocotyl-radicle; 1 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; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
New World, Old World. North America, Asia Major, southeastern Asia.
Notes
Spjut: Kadsura carpels aggregated into a head but apparently not concrescent. Cronquist: Fruit berrylike carpels, these on somewhat elongated axis (Schisandra) or in a dense head (Kadsura).
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Kadsura Juss. -- Schisandra Michx., nom. cons.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 98. Saunders, R.M.K. 1998. Monograph of Kadsura (Schisandraceae). Syst. Bot. Monogr. 54:1–106.
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, 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, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and seed illustrations. Cronquist has no illustration. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Saunders (1998), LeMaout & Decaisne , Gray. Seed illustration(s): Karen, Saunder (1998), LeMaout & Decaisne, Hooker's Icones [1715]. Embryo illustration(s): Karen, Baillon, LeMaout & Decaisne, Gray, Hooker [1715], Corner. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 024: Kadsura japonica Benth. (A-B), Schisandra chinensis [mot in IPNI] (C-D).
• Fruit. 1 of 4. Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill.: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 4. Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill.: seeds. • Embryo. 3 of 4. Kadsura japonica (L.) Dunal: embryo. • Embryo. 4 of 4. Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Baill.: 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’.
