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Common name: Bur-reed 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 pericarpium; compound, or simple; drupe (individual fruits & not Spjut); achenosum (fruiting head & Spjut 4 families: Platanaceae, Rubiaceae, Sparganiaceae, Urticaceae); without persistent central column; within accessory organ(s); within tepals; 1-seeded to more than 1 but less than 10-seeded; 1(–3)-seeded (1(-2- rarely 3)); 1(–3)-carpellate (1(-2–3)); with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; with carpels not radiating at maturity; with carpels remaining connected at style; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; in transection terete; apex beaked; indehiscent. Epicarp brown (all shades); dull; durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; not smooth; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; fleshy; composed of 1 unified layer; without lactiform cavity system. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; bony; not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; without wing; without operculum; without secretory cavities; 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; in transection terete; 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; glabrous; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; thin (but with thickened "seed lid"); not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Endosperm development nuclear (or Goldberg "helobial?"); copious; mealy; smooth; with starch; with oils and proteins; without fatty acid containing cyclopropene; without apical lobes; without chlorophyll; without isodiametric faceted surface; without odor.
Perisperm scanty (thin). Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve); 0.8–0.9 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; linear; straight; parallel to seed length; embedded in endosperm; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 1 cotyledon. Cotyledons one and terminal with lateral plumule; not circinately coiled.
Distribution
North temperate. New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, Europe, Asia Major, Australia, Oceania (New Zealand).
Notes
Dahlgren et al.: "The fruit is drupaecous and one-seeded. Embryo 8–13 times longer than wide. The mainly thin seed coat is thickened at the micropylar end into a 'seed lid' which fills a hollow formed by the pericarp".
Weed information
1 or more USA Federal noxious weeds, 1 or more USA state noxious weeds.
USA Federal noxious weeds: -- Sparganium erectum L.: USA Federal Noxious Weedª; USA state noxious weed: FLª, MAª, NCª, OKª, SCª, TXª. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
USA states and territories with listed noxious weeds: Florida (FL), Massachusetts (MA), North Carolina (NC), Oklahoma (OK), South Carolina (SC), Texas (TX).
USA state and territory noxious weeds: -- Sparganium erectum L.: USA Federal Noxious Weedª; USA state noxious weed: FLª, MAª, NCª, OKª, SCª, TXª. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
Listed seeds
ASOA listed seeds, ISTA listed seeds.
ASOA listed seeds: -- Sparganium erectum L. -- Last updated September 2008.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Sparganium erectum L.w -- 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
Sparganium L.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 1153.
General references
Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, 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. and C.A. Ritchie. 1988. Identification of disseminules listed in the Federal Noxious Weed Act. Techn. Bull. U.S.D.A. 1719:1–313, 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, Martin, A.C. 1946. The comparative internal morphology of seeds. Amer. Midl. Naturalist 36:513–660, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and seed ilustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): LeMaout & Decaisne, Cronquist, Gunn & Ritchie. Seed illustration(s): Gunn & Ritchie, Karen. Embryo illustration(s): Gunn & Ritchie, Karen, Martin. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 355: Sparganium americanum Nutt. (A-B).
• Fruit. 1 of 4. Sparganium americanum Nutt.: fruiting head. • Fruit. 2 of 4. Sparganium americanum Nutt.: fruits. • Seed. 3 of 4. Sparganium americanum Nutt.: seed. • Embryo. 4 of 4. Sparganium americanum Nutt.: 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’.
