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Synonyms: Nitrariaceae Lindl.; Peganaceae Tiegh. ex Takht.; Tetradiclidaceae Takht.; Tribulaceae Trautv.
Common name: Creosote-bush Family.
Number of genera 29. Number of species 250.
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, or schizocarp; berry (Peganum, not Spjut), or drupe (Nitraria, not Spjut), or capsule (Spjut); samarium (Spjut 7 families: Aceraceae, Malpighiaceae, Rhamnaceae, Sapindaceae, Simaroubaceae, Trigoniaceae, Zygophyllaceae), or camarium (Spjut 5 families: Gyrostemonaceae, Juncaginaceae, Malvaceae, Sapindaceae, Zygophyllaceae); septicidal capsule (Spjut Fig. 48D-E); capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; berry indehiscent; berry without central placental mass; without persistent central column, or with persistent central column; valves not diverging at top of central column; not within accessory organ(s); 1-seeded to many-seeded; 1-seeded (to many); (2–)5(–6)-carpellate (or 5 (2–12)); with carpels united, or separate; with carpels remaining united at maturity, or separating at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; apex not beaked; dehiscent, or indehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp durable; glabrous (without hairs), or not glabrous (with hairs); hairs medium length; hairs dense; hairs yellow; hairs not glandular; with armature, or without armature; with spines; without armature glochidiate; smooth, or not smooth; 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; stone unilocular (assumed); 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; 1 to less than 5 mm long to 5 to less than 10 mm long; 3.5–10 mm long (at least); in transection compressed, or terete; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves, or without food reserves (Tribulus), or without apparent food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without markedly different marginal tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; loose; 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, or pubescent; with hairs over surface; with short hairs; with straight hairs; without glandular pubescence; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; brown (all shades); membranous, or crustaceous, or thick; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted, or becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve, or surrounding embryo. Endosperm development nuclear; copious; cartilaginous, or hard; 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; Tribulus completely filling testa (no food reserve), or partially filling testa (with food reserve); 0.7 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, or C-shaped; parallel to seed length; embedded in endosperm; with cotyledons gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.5–0.7 times length of embryo; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; 1–2 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle, or partially concealing hypocotyl-radicle; foliaceous; thin; flat; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed, or well developed; straight, or spirally twisted; not thickened.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan. New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, Australia.
Weed information
1 or more USA state noxious weeds.
USA states and territories with listed noxious weeds: Arizona (AZ), California (CA), Colorado (CO), Hawaii (HI), Idaho (ID), Iowa (IA), Michigan (MI), Nebraska (NE), Nevada (NV), New Mexico (NM), North Carolina (NC), Oregon (OR), Texas (TX), Washington (WA), Wyoming (WY).
USA state and territory noxious weeds: -- Peganum harmala L.: USA state noxious weed: AZ●, CA●, CO●°, NM●, NV●, OR●.-- Tribulus terrestris L.: USA state noxious weed: AZ●°, CA●°, CO●°, HI°, IA●°, ID●°, MI●°, NC●, NE°, NV●°, OR●, TX°, WA●°, WY°. -- Zygophyllum fabago L.: USA state noxious weed: CA●, ID●°, NV●, OR●, WA●. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
Listed seeds
ASOA listed seeds, ISTA listed seeds.
ASOA listed seeds: -- Kallstroemia hirsutissima Vail ex Small -- Larrea tridentata (DC.) Coville -- Peganum harmala L. -- Tribulus terrestris L. -- Zygophyllum fabago L. -- Last updated September 2008.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Tribulus terrestris L.w -- Zygophyllum fabago 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
Augea Thunb., nom. cons. -- Bulnesia Gay -- Fagonia L. -- Guaiacum L. -- Halimiphyllum (Engl.) Boriss. -- Izozogia G. Navarro -- Kallstroemia Scop. -- Kelleronia Schinz -- Larrea Cav., nom. cons. -- Malacocarpus Fisch. & C. A. Mey. -- Metharme Phil. ex Engl. -- Miltianthus Bunge -- Morkillia Rose & J. H. Painter -- Neoluederitzia Schinz -- Nitraria L. -- Peganum L. -- Pintoa Gay -- Plectrocarpa Gillies ex Hook. & Arn. -- Porlieria Ruiz & Pav. -- Roepera A. Juss. -- Sarcozygium Bunge -- Seetzenia R. Br. ex Decne. -- Sericodes A. Gray -- Sisyndite E. Mey. ex Sond. -- Tetradiclis Steven ex M. Bieb. -- Tetraena Maxim. -- Tribulopis R. Br. -- Tribulus L. -- Viscainoa Greene -- Zygophyllum L.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 817 (also see Balanitaceae).
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, Engler, A. and K. Prantl. 1924 and onward. Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilimien. W. Engelman, Leipzig, 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], Gray, A. 1848. Genera florae Americae boreali-orientalis illustrata, 2 vols. James Munroe and Co., Boston., 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, 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, Schopmeyer, C.S. 1974. Seeds of Woody plants in the United States. Agric. Handb. 450:1–883, 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 fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Spjut, Cronquist, Gray, LeMaout & Decaisne, Engler & Prantl, Baillon. Fruit illustration(s): Schopmeyer, Gray, Engler & Prantl, Gunn & Ritchie. Seed illustration(s): Gray, Baillon, Gunn & Ritchie. Embryo illustration(s): Gray, Schopmeyer, LeMaout & Decaisne, Engler & Prantl, Baillon, Martin, Gunn & Ritchie. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 263: Augea capensis Torr. & A. Gray (A-C), Balanites aegyptiaca [now in Balanitaceae & not finalized], Fagonia californica Benth. (D-F), Guaiacum sanctum L. (G-I), Kallstroemia grandiflora Torr. & A. Gray (J-L), Morkillia mexicana (M-O), Neoluederitzia sericeocarpa (P-R), Nitraria billardieri (2: A-C), Plectrocarpa rougesii (2: D-F), Porlieria angustifolia (Englem.) A. Gray (2: G-I), Seetzenia africana (2: J-L), Tetradiclis tenella (2: M-O), Viscainoa geniculata Greene (2: P-R), Zygophyllum ammophilum F. Muell. (2: S-U).
• Seed. 1 of 26. Guaiacum sanctum L.: seeds. • Fruit. 2 of 26. Kallstroemia grandiflora Torr. ex A. Gray: fruit with calyx and fruit without calyx. • Seed. 3 of 26. Kallstroemia grandiflora Torr. ex A. Gray: fruits. • Fruit. 4 of 26. Larrea tridentata (Sessé & Moc. ex DC.) Coville: fruit. • Fruit. 5 of 26. Larrea tridentata (Sessé & Moc. ex DC.) Coville: fruits. • Seed. 6 of 26. Larrea tridentata (Sessé & Moc. ex DC.) Coville: seed. • Fruit. 7 of 26. Peganum harmala L.: fruit. • Seed. 8 of 26. Peganum harmala L.: seed cluster. • Seed. 9 of 26. Peganum harmala L.: seeds. • Fruit. 10 of 26. Tribulus cistoides L.: fruits. • Seed. 11 of 26. Tribulus cistoides L.: seeds. • Fruit. 12 of 26. Zygophyllum howittii F. Muell.: fruit. • Seed. 13 of 26. Zygophyllum howittii F. Muell.: seeds. • Embryo. 14 of 26. Augea capensis Thunb.: embryo. • Embryo. 15 of 26. Fagonia californica Benth.: embryo. • Embryo. 16 of 26. Guaiacum sanctum L.: embryo. • Embryo. 17 of 26. Kallstroemia grandiflora Torr. ex A. Gray: embryo. • Embryo. 18 of 26. Morkillia mexicana (Moc. & Sesse') Rose & Painter: embryo. • Embryo. 19 of 26. Neoluederitzia sericocarpa Schinz: embryo. • Embryo. 20 of 26. Nitraria billardierei DC.: embryo. • Embryo. 21 of 26. Plectrocarpa rougesii Descole, O'Donell & Lourteig: embryo. • Embryo. 22 of 26. Guaiacum angustifolium Engelm.: embryo. • Embryo. 23 of 26. Seetzenia lanata (Willd.) Bullock: embryo. • Embryo. 25 of 26. Viscainoa geniculata Greene: embryo. • Embryo. 26 of 26. Roepera ammophila (F. Muell.) Beier & Thulin: 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’.
