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Synonyms: Huerteaceae Doweld; Ochranthaceae A. Juss.; Tapisciaceae Takht.
Common name: Blatternut Family.
Number of genera 5. Number of species 27.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or an intact or entire fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; capsule, or carcerulus (Turpinia of Spjut, Euscaphis of others), or follicle (Euscaphis); fissuricidal capsule (Staphylea trifoliata); capsule inflated, or not inflated; capsule without operculum; without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); 1-seeded to more than 1 but less than 10-seeded; 1–8-seeded; 2(–4)-carpellate (2–3(-4)); with carpels united, or separate; with carpels remaining united at maturity, or separating at maturity; with carpels not radiating at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; in transection terete; apex not beaked; dehiscent, or indehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present, or absent. Endocarp present, or absent; not separating from exocarp; thin, or hard; 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; 5 to less than 10 mm long to 10 to less than 25 mm long; 5.5–10 mm long; circular; in transection terete, or compressed (somewhat); 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; shiny; surface smooth, or unsmooth; surface with merged raised features; surface reticulate; 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, or 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), or black; bony, or thick, or thin, or hard; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Hilum larger than punctate; circular (at least). Endosperm development nuclear; copious, or moderate, or thin; fleshy, or hard (= horny); smooth; 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), or nearly filling testa (trace or scanty food reserve); 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; parallel to seed length; embedded in endosperm; with cotyledons abruptly connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; or less 0.5–0.8 times length of embryo; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; 4.4 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle, or partially concealing hypocotyl-radicle; thin; flat; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle small, or moderately developed, or well developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Asia Major, southeastern Asia.
Notes
Seeds maybe in pulpy exotesta.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Euscaphis Siebold & Zucc., nom. cons. -- Huertea Ruiz & Pav. -- Staphylea L. -- Tapiscia Oliv. -- Turpinia Vent., nom. cons.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 789. Spongberg, S.A. 1971. The Staphyleaceae in the southeastern United States. J. Arnold Arbor. 52:196–203.
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], Gray, A. 1848. Genera florae Americae boreali-orientalis illustrata, 2 vols. James Munroe and Co., Boston., 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, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): LeMaout & Decaisne, Gaertner, Baillon, Cronquist, Gray. Seed illustration(s): LeMaout & Decaisne, Gaertner, Spongberg (1971), Karen, Gray. Embryo illustration(s): LeMaout & Decaisne, Spongberg (1971), Corner, Baillon, Karen, Martin, Gray. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 249: Euscaphis japonica (Thunb.) Kanitz (A-B), Huertea cubensis Griseb. (C-D), Staphylea pinnata L. (E-F), Tapiscia sinensis (G-H), Turpinia pomifera (I-J).
• Fruit. 1 of 7. Staphylea trifolia L.: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 7. Staphylea trifolia L.: seed. • Embryo. 3 of 7. Euscaphis japonica (Thunb.) Kanitz: embryo. • Embryo. 4 of 7. Huertea cubensis Griseb.: embryo. • Embryo. 5 of 7. Staphylea pinnata L.: embryo. • Embryo. 6 of 7. Tapiscia sinensis Oliv.: embryo. • Embryo. 7 of 7. Turpinia pomifera (Roxb.) DC.: 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’.
