The Families of Flowering Plants
The Families of Flowering Plants | |
~ Phytolaccaceae
Habit and leaf form. Scandent herbs (with turniplike rootstock). Perennial. Climbing; stem twiners. Leaves alternate; flat; long petiolate (the petioles twisted near the base); non-sheathing; simple. Lamina entire; ovate; pinnately veined; cross-venulate; cordate. Leaves exstipulate. Lamina margins entire.
Leaf anatomy. Stomata present; anomocytic.
Stem anatomy. Secondary thickening anomalous (with successive rings of vascular bundles). Sieve-tube plastids P-type; type III (a).
Reproductive type, pollination. Plants hermaphrodite.
Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in panicles. The terminal inflorescence unit cymose (cymules). Inflorescences loose, axillary; panicles of cymules. Flowers bracteate; bracteolate; fragrant. Free hypanthium absent.
Perianth sepaline (corolla absent); 4(–5); 1 whorled. Calyx 4(–5); 1 whorled; polysepalous; regular; persistent; accrescent (these becoming stellately and reticulately veiny in the fruit).
Androecium 15–20. Androecial members free of the perianth (inserted on a thin perigynous disk); all equal; free of one another; ‘in more than one series’. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 15–20; triplostemonous to polystemonous; filantherous (the filaments filiform). Anthers dorsifixed (oblong, bifid at each end); dehiscing via longitudinal slits.
Gynoecium (3–)4 carpelled. Carpels reduced in number relative to the perianth, or isomerous with the perianth. The pistil (3–)4 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synstylovarious; partly inferior. Ovary (3–)4 locular. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 1; apical; shorter than the ovary (short, conical). Stigmas 3–4 (recurved). Placentation basal to axile. Ovules 1 per locule; funicled; hemianatropous.
Fruit non-fleshy; indehiscent; achene-like (turbinate, unilocular by abortion, the leathery pericarp adherent to the seed, winged by the persistent, dry calyx); 1 seeded. Seeds probably non-endospermic. Perisperm presumably present (represented by ‘thin, mealy endosperm’). Embryo well differentiated. Cotyledons 2. Embryo curved (more or less annular).
Physiology, biochemistry. Alkaloids absent. Iridoids not detected. Proanthocyanidins absent.
Geography, cytology. Neotropical. Tropical. Central America and tropical South America.
Taxonomy. Subclass Dicotyledonae; Crassinucelli. Dahlgren’s Superorder Caryophylliflorae; Caryophyllales. Cronquist’s Subclass Caryophyllidae; Caryophyllales. APG (1998) Eudicot; core Eudicot; neither Rosid nor Asterid; Caryophyllales (as a synonym of Phytolaccaceae). Species 1. Genera 1; only genus, Agdestis.
This description is offered for casual browsing only. We strongly advise against extracting comparative information from it. This is much more easily achieved using 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 specified attributes, summaries of attributes within groups of taxa, geographical distribution, genera included in each family, classifications (Dahlgren; Dahlgren, Clifford, and Yeo; Cronquist; APG), and notes on the APG classification.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 1992 onwards. The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 10th April 2008. http://delta-intkey.com’.