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Synonyms: Abolbodaceae Nakai
Common name: Yellow-eyed-grass Family.
Number of genera 5. Number of species 260.
Angiosperm. Liliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound, or simple; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; capsule; fissuricidal capsule, or loculicidal capsule, or poricidal capsule (not Spjut but for some Australian spp. of Xyris); capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; without persistent central column; with styles(s); at apex; within accessory organ(s), or not within accessory organ(s); within perianth, or calyx (tube - but which is correct or are both?); accrescent; persistent; many-seeded; many; less than 1 cm long; 0.25–0.32 cm long; 3-carpellate; 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 not beaked; apex beaked; dehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent passively; and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp brown (all shades); durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature; not smooth; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; 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. Seed minute, or larger than minute; less than 1 mm long to 1 to less than 5 mm long; 1 mm long (more or less); ovate, or elliptic, or circular, or oblong, or angular, or fusiform; in transection terete, or compressed; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; with caudate appendage(s), or 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; marginal tissue winglike; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; surface smooth, or unsmooth; surface with merged raised features; surface reticulate, or striate (vertically for Xyris, obliquely for Aboloba); without crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle, or with crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle (Orecianthe); without notch along margin where cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle tip approach each other, or with notch along margin where cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle tip approaching each other (Orecianthe); without glands; without bristles; glabrous; without wings, or with wing(s) (Orecianthe, Abolboda); without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; yellow, or red; coriaceous; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Hilum punctate. Endosperm development at first nuclear, or cellular (latter or helobial (Abolbodia)); copious; mealy (more or less); smooth; with starch; with compound starch grains; with proteins, or oils (Orecianthe); 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); 0.2–0.5 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; basal, or lateral; lenticular (or shield shaped); with cotyledons gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleoptile; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 1 cotyledon. Cotyledons one and not modified into scutellum; not circinately coiled. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed (hypocotyle thick but radicle small); much thickened.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan. New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania.
Notes
Embryo 0.5 as long as wide.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Abolboda Bonpl. -- Achlyphila Maguire & Wurdack -- Aratitiyopea Steyerm. & P. E. Berry -- Orectanthe Maguire -- Xyris L.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 1109. Kral, R. 1966a. Xyris (Xyridaceae) of the continental United States and Canada. Sida 2:177–260; Maguire, B. & J.J. Wurdack. 1958b. Xyridaceae. In: B. Maguire & J.J. Wurdack, eds., The botany of the Guayana Highlands - Part III. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 10(1):1–19.
General references
Baillon, H.E. 1866–95. Histoire des plantes, 13 vols. Hachette and Co., Paris, 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., 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, 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
Poor fruit and acceptable seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Baillon, Cronquist. Seed illustration(s): Maguire & Wurdack (1958), Baillon, Cronquist, Kral (1966). Embryo illustration(s): Martin.
• Fruit. 1 of 3. Xyris pauciflora Willd.: fruiting head. • Seed. 2 of 3. Xyris pauciflora Willd.: seeds. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Xyris indica L.: 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’.
