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Synonyms: Retziaceae Choisy
Common name: Stilbe Family.
Number of genera 8. Number of species 32.
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 urticle (both not Spjut); loculicidal capsule; capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; without persistent central column; within accessory organ(s); within perianth; 1-seeded (to ?); 1-seeded; without sterile carpels; apex not beaked; indehiscent, or dehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent without replum. Epicarp durable; without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. 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 mm long (-?); oval; in transection terete; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Testa present; without markedly different marginal tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; surface unsmooth; surface with discreet raised features, or merged raised features; surface tuberculate; surface colliculate; without glands; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted. Endosperm copious; mealy; 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; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; acotyledonous, or with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2 (to indistinct); scarcely differentiated; equal in size; not punctate dotted.
Distribution
Old World. Africa, Asia Minor.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Campylostachys Kunth -- Euthystachys A. DC. -- Halleria L. -- Kogelbergia Rourke -- Nuxia Comm. ex Lam. -- Retzia Thunb. -- Stilbe P. J. Bergius -- Thesmophora Rourke
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 867 (from Retziaceae & Verbenaceae Cronquist & Mabberley). Rourke, J.P. 2000. A review of generic concepts in the Stilbaceae. Bothalia 30:9–15.
Illustrations
Embryo illustration(s): 12 August 2008. The seeds are so small that I could not dissect them. Joseph H. Kirkbride, Jr.
• Fruit. 1 of 3. Stilbe albiflora E. Mey.: fruits with floral parts. • Fruit. 2 of 3. Nuxia congesta R. Br. ex Fresen.: partial infructescence with fruits enclosed in persistent calyx. • Seed. 3 of 3. Nuxia congesta R. Br. ex Fresen.: seeds.
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’.
