The Families of Flowering Plants
The Families of Flowering Plants | |
~ Aizoaceae
Habit and leaf form. Sub- shrubs and herbs. Plants succulent; autotrophic. Self supporting, or climbing; some scrambling. Mesophytic, or xerophytic. Leaves alternate; spiral; leathery; petiolate; non-sheathing; simple. Lamina entire; pinnately veined; cross-venulate. Leaves exstipulate. Lamina margins entire.
Leaf anatomy. Stomata present; anomocytic.
Minor leaf veins without phloem transfer cells (Tetragonia).
Stem anatomy. Sieve-tube plastids P-type; type III (a).
Reproductive type, pollination. Plants hermaphrodite, or monoecious, or polygamomonoecious (?).
Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers solitary, or aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in cymes and in racemes. The ultimate inflorescence unit cymose. Inflorescences not scapiflorous; few flowered, or racemiform cymes. Flowers small; regular; 3–5 merous. Free hypanthium present (continuous with and textured like the calyx).
Perianth sepaline (but coloured inside); 3–5(–7); joined; 1 whorled; persistent; accrescent. Calyx (the perianth being so interpreted) 3–5(–7); 1 whorled; gamosepalous; regular; fleshy (at least when young, coloured within); persistent; accrescent; induplicate valvate.
Androecium 1–100 (to ‘many’). Androecial members branched, or unbranched; adnate (to the perianth tube); free of one another, or coherent (sometimes fasciculate); 1 adelphous, or 2–5 adelphous (?). Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 1–35; reduced in number relative to the adjacent perianth to polystemonous; oppositisepalous (or at least, the staminal groups antesepalous). Anthers dehiscing via longitudinal slits; bilocular.
Gynoecium (1–)3–8(–10) carpelled. Carpels isomerous with the perianth, or reduced in number relative to the perianth, or increased in number relative to the perianth. The pistil 1–10 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synovarious; partly inferior, or inferior. Ovary (1–)3–8(–10) locular. Styles (1–)3–8(–10); free. Placentation axile, or apical. Ovules 1 per locule; shortly funicled; pendulous; with dorsal raphe; hemianatropous.
Fruit fleshy to non-fleshy; indehiscent; a drupe, or a drupe and a samara (sometimes winged, horned or spiny, crowned by the accrescent perianth). Seeds endospermic. Embryo achlorophyllous (1/1); curved.
Physiology, biochemistry. Plants accumulating free oxalates. C3 and CAM. C3 physiology recorded directly in Tetragonia reduplicata. CAM recorded directly in Tetragonia reduplicata.
Geography, cytology. Mostly Southern hemisphere.
Taxonomy. Subclass Dicotyledonae; Crassinucelli. Dahlgren’s Superorder Caryophylliflorae; Caryophyllales. Cronquist’s Subclass Caryophyllidae; Caryophyllales. APG 3 core angiosperms; core eudicot; Superorder Caryophyllanae; Order Caryophyllales (as a synonym of Aizoaceae).
Species 60. Genera 2; Tetragonia, Tribulocarpus.
Economic uses, etc. Tetragonia expansa is used as table greens (New Zealand spinach).
Illustrations. • Technical details: Tetragonia. • Tetragonia tetragonoides: habit (photo). • Tetragonia tetragonoides: flowers (photo).
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’.
