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Common name: Sclerophylax Family.
Number of genera 1. Number of species 12.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule an intact or entire fruit.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit anthocarp; simple (Spjut did not score this fruit); carcerulus; without persistent central column; without style or stylar remnants; within accessory organ(s); within calyx; accrescent; persistent; hard calyx (and spiny tipped); 1-seeded, or more than 1 but less than 10-seeded; (1–)2(–3)-seeded (1-seeded by abortion of 1 seed); less than 1 cm long; 0.35–0.6 cm long; 2(–3)-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, or with sterile carpels (rarely); without fleshy lateral appendage; not sulcate; in transection terete; apex not beaked; wall chartaceous to crustaceous; indehiscent. Epicarp brown (all shades); dull; durable; membranous; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; smooth; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; thin; composed of 1 unified layer; without lactiform cavity system; and endocarp not sharply differentiated. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; chartaceous to crustaceous; 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 larger than minute; 1 to less than 5 mm long; 2–5 mm long; 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 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; yellow; membranous; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted. Endosperm copious.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; straight, or C-shaped; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; moderately developed; 0.5–0.7 times length of embryo; as wide as hypocotyl-radicle; 1 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; not foliaceous; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed; not thickened.
Distribution
New World. South America (Argentina).
Notes
Di Fulvio (1961): Fruit 2-seeded or by abortion 1-seeded or by abortion 1-seeded, or in Sclerophylax trispermus Di Fulvio 3-seeded, pericarp membranous, protected by accresent and lignified calyx, with or wirhout pedicel and then concrescent with the axis. Seed endospermous, pendulous, oblong or curved inferiorly, 2.5–4 mm long, 0.75–1,25 mm wide, testa membranous, almost colorless, membranous, with the lateral of the cell walls thick and sinuous. Embryo straight ot curved, 2–4 mm long, more or less 0.75 mm wide. Burkart (1979): "Fruit indehiscent, bilocular, generally 2-seeded, with membranous pericarp, enclosed in the indurate and accrescent calyx".
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Sclerophylax Miers
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 892 (Cronquist & Mabberly have in Solanaceae). Di Fulvio, T.E. 1961. El género Sclerophylax (Solanaceae). Kurtziana 1:9–103; Burkhart, A. 1979. Flora illustrada de entre Rios (Argentina), part V, pp. 418–421. INTA, Buenos Aires; Cabrera, A.L. 1983. Flora de la Provincia de Jujuy, República Argentina, part VIII, pp. 294–296. INTA, Buenos Aires.
General references
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.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and no seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Di Fulvio (1961), Burkart (1979). Embryo illustration(s): Di Fulvio (1961), Burkart (1979).
• Fruit. 1 of 4. Sclerophylax adnatifolia Di Fulvio: stem with leaves and fruits. • Seed. 2 of 4. Sclerophylax adnatifolia Di Fulvio: seed. • Embryo. 3 of 4. Sclerophylax caducifructus DiFulvio: embryo. • Embryo. 4 of 4. Sclerophylax spinescens Miers: 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’.
