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Synonyms: Ailanthaceae J. Agardh; Castelaceae J. Agardh; Holacanthaceae Jadin, nom. inval.; Simabaceae Horan.; Soulameaceae Endl.
Common name: Quassia Family.
Number of genera 25. Number of species 170.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or an intact or entire fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound, or simple; 1 to more than 21; 1 to many; with carpels united, or carpels nearly separate to base. Fruit pericarpium; simple, or schizocarp; capsule, or berry, or drupe (Spjut Fig. 25E); druparium, or samarium (Spjut 7 families: Aceraceae, Malpighiaceae, Rhamnaceae, Sapindaceae, Simaroubaceae, Trigoniaceae, Zygophyllaceae); septicidal capsule and loculicidal capsule (latter near base & both not Spjut); capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; berry indehiscent; berry without central placental mass; with persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); with few seeds; few; from 1–5 cm long, or from 5.1–10 cm long; 4–5 cm long; (1–)2–5(–8)-carpellate (Castela with 8); with carpels united, or separate; with carpels remaining united at maturity; with carpels radiating at maturity, or not radiating at maturity; with carpels remaining connected at style, or separating at style; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; in transection terete, or flat; apex not beaked; dehiscent, or indehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp brown (all shades), or red; shiny, or dull; durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; smooth; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present, or absent. Endocarp present, or absent; not separating from exocarp; woody, or 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, or present; an arillike structure. Seed larger than minute; 1 to less than 5 mm long to 10 to less than 25 mm long; 20–25 mm long; elliptic; in transection terete; 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; shiny (and waxy); 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); not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Endosperm development nuclear; moderate; fleshy.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; nearly filling testa (trace or scanty food reserve), or completely filling testa (no food reserve); 0.8–1 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; foliate; with investing cotyledons, or spatulate cotyledons; straight, or arcuate; parallel to seed length; embedded in endosperm; with cotyledons abruptly connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; with cotyledons containing oils; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.8–0.9 times length of embryo; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; 3–5.8 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; entirely concealing hypocotyl-radicle to not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; thin, or moderately thick; circinate, or flat, or once-folded (latter 2 for Harrisonia); smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate, or connate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle small, or moderately developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan. New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania.
Notes
Mabberley: "Allanospermum - capsule 5-valved, 4–5 cm long, 5-lobed, septicidally splitting loculidically from near the base, each half-valve becoming slightly twisted, central columella persistent, bearing near the apex 5 arilloid processes from which seeds break away. Cronquist: Allantospermum: "Seed allarloid, exalbuminous, not winged, but with small arillar process adherent to the columella of the fruit". Forman on Allantospermun: "capsule septicidally splitting into 5 separate valves; each valve incompletely splitting loculicidally from the apex to near the base; each half-valve becoming slightly twisted, central columella persistent, bearing near the apex 5 arilloid processes from which the seed break away".
Weed information
1 or more USA state noxious weeds.
USA states and territories with listed noxious weeds: Connecticut (CT), Massachusetts (MA), New Hampshire (NH), Vermont (VT).
USA state and territory noxious weeds: -- Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle: USA state noxious weed: CT●, MA●, NH●, VT●. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
Listed seeds
ASOA listed seeds, ISTA listed seeds.
ASOA listed seeds: -- Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle -- Last updated September 2008.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swinglet -- Quassia amara L. -- Simarouba amara Aubl. -- 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
Ailanthus Desf., nom. cons. -- Allantospermum Forman -- Amaroria A. Gray -- Brucea J. F. Mill., nom. cons. -- Castela Turpin, nom. cons. -- Eurycoma Jack -- Gymnostemon Aubrév. & Pellegr. -- Hannoa Planch. -- Iridosma Aubrév. & Pellegr. -- Laumoniera Noot. -- Nothospondias Engl. -- Odyendea Pierre ex Engl. -- Perriera Courchet -- Picrasma Blume -- Picrolemma Hook. f. -- Pierreodendron Engl. -- Quassia L. -- Samadera Gaertn., nom. cons. -- Simaba Aubl. -- Simarouba Aubl., nom. cons. -- Soulamea Lam.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 809 (also see Irvingaceae, Kirkiaceae, Picramniaceae). Forman, L.L. 1965. A new genus of Ixonanthaceae with notes on the family. Kew Bull. 19:517–526; Nooteboom, H.P. 1967. The taxonomic position of Irvingioideae, Allantospermum Forman and Cyrillopsis Kuhlm. Adansonia, sér. 2, 7:163–168.
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, Roosmalen, M.G.M. van. 1985. Fruits of the Guianan flora, 483 pp. Institute of Systematic Botany, Wageningen Agricultural University. Drukkerij Veenman B.V., Wageningen, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and poor seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Cronquist, Roosmalen, Baillon, Gaertner, Forman (1965), Engler & Prantl. Seed illustration(s): Engler & Prantl, Gaertner. Embryo illustration(s): LeMaout & Decaisne, Baillon, Corner, Martin.
• Fruit. 1 of 7. Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 7. Ailanthus altissima (Mill.) Swingle: seed. • Fruit. 3 of 7. Simarouba berteroana Krug & Urb.: fruit. • Seed. 4 of 7. Simarouba berteroana Krug & Urb.: seed. • Fruit. 5 of 7. Soulamea amara Lam.: fruit. • Seed. 6 of 7. Soulamea amara Lam.: seed. • Embryo. 7 of 7. Simaba cedron Planch.: 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’.
