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Common name: Triuria Family.
Number of genera 7. Number of species 42.
Angiosperm. Liliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or an intact or entire fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1 to 2–5; 1–5-pistillate; with carpels nearly separate to base, or carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; schizocarp, or multiple; achenarium (Peltophyllum, Soridium, Triuis, but not Spjut); follicetum (Spjut); without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); per fruitlet 1-seeded, or many-seeded (per head); 6–50-seeded; less than 1 cm long; 0.13–0.29 cm long; 6–50-carpellate; with carpels separate; with carpels not radiating at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; apex beaked; apex short beaked; dehiscent, or indehiscent (Soridium). Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent regularly; passively; at apex; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp dull; durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; smooth, or not smooth; rugose, or warted; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp absent. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; thin; not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; 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 minute to larger than minute; less than 1 mm long to 1 to less than 5 mm long; 0.3–2.5 mm long; oblong, or obovate, or ovate, or pyriform, or reniform; in transection terete; 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, or with markedly different marginal tissue (dorsally spongy in Sciaphila); without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; surface unsmooth; surface with discreet raised features, or merged raised features; surface blistered, or tuberculate; surface reticulate, or ridged, or wrinkled, or striate (longitudinally); 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), or black; in Sciaphila part of testa spongy; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Hilum larger than punctate. Endosperm development at first nuclear and cellular (latter); copious; smooth; without starch, or with starch; with proteins and 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); at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; miniature; micro; straight; parallel to seed length; embedded in endosperm; with cotyledons gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleoptile; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; acotyledonous, or with 2 or more cotyledons (barely developed). Cotyledons 2; scarcely differentiated; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle vestigial; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
New World, Old World. Middle America, South America, Africa, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania.
Notes
Mabberley: Fruit a head of follicles". Dahlgren et al.: "Dry fruitlets when mature may rupture longitudinally along the side opposite the stylodium and thus it functions as an achenelike follicles". Maas & Rubsamen in Flora Neotropica [40]: "Fruit follicle, longitudinally ventro-dorsally dehiscing from apex to base as in Sciaphila or as indehiscent achene as in Soridium, Peltophyllum, and Triuris". (The three indehiscent fruits were not scored by Spjut.) "Mature fruits of Petophyllum luteum are glutinous when ripe". Flora Neotropica, page 6: "Unlike most dust diaspores, the seeds of the Triuridaceae do not develop in many-seeded capsules; instead, they develop singly, in an indehiscent (Peltophyllum, Soridium, Triuris) of late-dehiscent fruit. They are relatively large as compared with typical dust dispores (sometimes over 2 mm long)".
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Andruris Schltr. -- Hyalisma Champ. -- Peltophyllum Gardner -- Sciaphila Blume -- Seychellaria Hemsl. -- Soridium Miers -- Triuris Miers
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 1074.
General references
Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, Dahlgren, R.M.T., H.T. Clifford and P.F. Yeo. 1985. The families of the monocotyledons, 520 pp. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Engler, A. and K. Prantl. 1924 and onward. Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilimien. W. Engelman, Leipzig, Flora Neotropica. 1968–74. Nos. 1–14. Hafner Publishing Company, Darien and 1976-. Nos. 15-present. New York Botanical Garden, Bronx [monograph number], 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
Acceptable fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed. Fruit illustration(s): Cronquist, Dahlgren et al., Engler & Prantl, Flora Neotropica [40]. Seed illustration(s): Cronquist, Dahlgren et al., Engler & Prantl, Flora Neotropica [40].
• Fruit. 1 of 4. Sciaphila purpurea Benth.: fruiting head. • Fruit. 2 of 4. Sciaphila purpurea Benth.: fruits. • Seed. 3 of 4. Sciaphila purpurea Benth.: seeds. • Embryo. 4 of 4. Triuris brevistylis J. D. Smith: 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’.
