The Families of Flowering Plants
The Families of Flowering Plants | |
Habit and leaf form. Trees, or shrubs. Leaves alternate; spiral; leathery; non-sheathing; simple. Lamina entire. Leaves stipulate, or exstipulate. Stipules intrapetiolar; caducous. Lamina margins entire. Leaves without a persistent basal meristem.
Leaf anatomy. Stomata present; paracytic.
Adaxial hypodermis present. Lamina dorsiventral. Minor leaf veins without phloem transfer cells.
Stem anatomy. Cork cambium present; initially superficial. Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring. Xylem with libriform fibres. Vessel end-walls horizontal; simple. Wood partially storied (VP); parenchyma probably apotracheal.
Reproductive type, pollination. Plants hermaphrodite.
Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in panicles and in racemes. The ultimate inflorescence unit racemose. Inflorescences terminal. Flowers regular; 5 merous; cyclic; pentacyclic. Free hypanthium present (short, the petals ‘fused to the base of the sepals’). Hypogynous disk present; of separate members (these 5).
Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 10; 2 whorled; isomerous. Calyx 5; 1 whorled; polysepalous; regular; much imbricate. Corolla 5; 1 whorled; polypetalous; imbricate; regular.
Androecium 10. Androecial members adnate (to the base of the corolla); free of one another. Androecium including staminodes. Staminodes 5; external to the fertile stamens, or in the same series as the fertile stamens; petaloid (alternating with the fertile members). Stamens 5; isomerous with the perianth; alternisepalous; opposite the corolla members. Anthers dehiscing via longitudinal slits. Pollen grains aperturate; 2 aperturate; colporate.
Gynoecium 2 carpelled. The pistil 1–2 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous (but one carpel more or less reduced, so that the ovary becomes pseudomonomerous); synovarious; superior. Ovary 1 locular, or 2 locular. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 1, or 2; (when two) free; apical. Placentation when unilocular, apical; when bilocular, apical. Ovules in the single cavity when unilocular, 1; when bilocular, 1 per locule; pendulous; non-arillate; anatropous; bitegmic; crassinucellate. Outer integument not contributing to the micropyle. Polar nuclei fusing prior to fertilization. Antipodal cells formed; proliferating (with up to 8 cells). Endosperm formation nuclear. Embryogeny probably caryophyllad.
Fruit fleshy; indehiscent; a drupe. The drupes with one stone. Fruit 1 seeded. Seeds non-endospermic. Embryo well differentiated. Cotyledons 2 (large, thickened). Embryo straight.
Seedling. Germination phanerocotylar.
Physiology, biochemistry. Not cyanogenic. Proanthocyanidins absent. Flavonols present; kaempferol. Ellagic acid present. Saponins/sapogenins absent.
Geography, cytology. Sub-tropical to tropical. Malaysia, Northern Australia, North Island New Zealand. 2n = 44.
Taxonomy. Subclass Dicotyledonae; Crassinucelli. Dahlgren’s Superorder Santaliflorae; Celastrales (?). Cronquist’s Subclass Rosidae; Celastrales. APG 3 core angiosperms; core eudicot; Superorder Rosanae; fabid; Order Cucurbitales.
Species 5. Genera 1; only genus, Corynocarpus.
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: 25th November 2009. http://delta-intkey.com’.