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Common name: Scyphostegia Family.
Number of genera 1. Number of species 1 (Scyphostegia borneensis Stapf).
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; fleshy capsule; septicidal capsule; capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; with persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); many-seeded; many; 8–13-carpellate (8–12(-16)); 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; dehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent actively; elastically; with valves recurving; at apex; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp durable; without armature; 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 present; a true aril; white, or red (dish or pinkish); well developed; adnate to hilum; fleshy; of funicular origin; basal; does not aid in seed explusion from fruit; firm fleshy; lobed. Seed larger than minute; 10 to less than 25 mm long; 10–12 mm long; oblong, or C-shaped; in transection compressed; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves; with endosperm, or perisperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without markedly different marginal tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; surface unsmooth; surface with merged raised features; surface reticulate; 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; pubescent; with hairs over surface; with short hairs (minute); sparsely hairy; without glandular pubescence; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; brown (all shades); not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding perisperm. Raphe conspicuous. Endosperm development nuclear; scant, or copious (when young); with oils; without fatty acid containing cyclopropene; without apical lobes; without chlorophyll; without isodiametric faceted surface; without odor.
Perisperm scanty; opaque. 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); 0.1–0.9 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; linear; straight, or C-shaped (slightly); parallel 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; well developed; 0.5 times length of embryo; as wide as hypocotyl-radicle; 1 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; not foliaceous; moderately thick; flat; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Old World. Southeastern Asia (Borneo).
Notes
Heel (1967): "The female flowers have the vexed urceolate structure, consisting of a wall crowned with a large curved collar like a sessile stigma that leaves a minute opening in the centre. This structure encloses a single cell filled with many upright reproductive units, scaly at the base, that are inserted in a slightly raised bottom". … "The fruit is a fleshy capsule, not a berry … lignified valves … valves split the double main vascular bundles of the pistil into two halves"… Airy Shaw: "Fruit berry-like, formed of the enlarged fleshy disk, which tends ultimately to separate into 8–12 segments, enclosing many dry achenes, and subtended by the persistent perianth; seed with large embryo, endosperm scanty or 0. Only genus: Scyphostegia. A very remarkable plant; the morphology of the parts of the flowers still give rise to discussion".
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Scyphostegia Stapf
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 398. Heel, W.A. van. 1967. Anatomical and ontogenetic investigations on the morphology of the flowers and the fruit of Scyphostegia borneensis Stapf (Scyphostegiaceae). Blumea 15:107–125.
General references
Airy Shaw, H.K. 1973. A dictionary of the flowering plants and ferns, 1,131 pp. University Press, Cambridge, 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, 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 seedW illustrations. Cronquist has no illustration. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): (K) sheet. Seed illustration(s): Karen. Embryo illustration(s): Karen [This embryo illustration does not agree with the description]. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 113: Scyphostegia borneensis Stapf (A-B).
• Fruit. 1 of 3. Scyphostegia sp.: fruit with calyx and peduncle. • Seed. 2 of 3. Scyphostegia sp.: seeds. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Scyphostegia sp.: 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’.
