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Common name: Chloranthus Family.
Number of genera 4. Number of species 58.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule an intact or entire fruit, or an incomplete fruit with epicarp and mesocarp absent and endocarp exposed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) simple; 1; 2-pistillate. Fruit anthocarp, or pericarpium; simple; drupe; compound; sorosus; without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s), or within accessory organ(s); within bracts; connate; persistent; more than 1 but less than 10-seeded; 2–6-seeded; 1-carpellate; apex not beaked; indehiscent. Epicarp black, or green, or white (greenish-); durable; thick; without armature; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; fleshy; composed of 1 unified layer; without lactiform cavity system. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; thin and chartaceous, or fleshy; 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 larger than minute; 1 to less than 5 mm long; 1.8–6 mm long; ovate, or circular; in transection terete; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; surface unsmooth; surface with discreet raised features; surface tuberculate; 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; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; membranous; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Endosperm development cellular; copious; smooth; with starch; with starch composed of clustered grains; with oils; without fatty acid containing cyclopropene; without apical lobes; without chlorophyll; without isodiametric faceted surface; without odor.
Embryo barely differentiated from food reserve; rudimentary; 1 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve); 0.06–0.1 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; linear; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; acotyledonous, or with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; tiny (at most); divaricate, or not divaricate; 0.4 times length of embryo; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Pantropical and pansubtropical. New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania.
Notes
Unit of dispersal is the compound drupe.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
ISTA listed seeds.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Chloranthus glaber (Thunb.) Makino = Sarcandra glabra (Thunb.) Nakai -- Sarcandra glabra (Thunb.) Nakai -- 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
Ascarina J. R. Forst. & G. Forst. -- Chloranthus Sw. -- Hedyosmum Sw. -- Sarcandra Gardner
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 83.
General references
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, 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, LeMaout, E. and J. Decaisne. 1876. A general system of botany, 1,065 p. Longmans, Green, and Co., London, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and seed illustrations. Cronquist has no illustration. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or fruit incomplete, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Engler & Prantl, Aubre'ville. Fruit illustration(s): Karen. Seed illustration(s): LeMaout & Decaisne, Aubre'ville. Embryo illustration(s): Engler & Prantl, LeMaout & Decaisne, Karen. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 019: Ascarina diffusa Nakai (E-F), Chloranthus serratus (Thunb.) Roem. & Schult. (A-B), Hedyosmum calloso-serratum Oerst. (G-H), Sarcandra glaber (Thunb.) Nakai (C-D).
• Fruit. 1 of 6. Chloranthus erectus (Buch.-Ham.) Verdc.: fruits. • Seed. 2 of 6. Chloranthus erectus (Buch.-Ham.) Verdc.: seed. • Embryo. 3 of 6. Ascarina diffusa A.C. Smith: embryo. • Embryo. 4 of 6. Chloranthus serratus (Thunb.) Roem. & Schult.: embryo. • Embryo. 5 of 6. Hedyosmum bonplandianum Kunth: embryo. • Embryo. 6 of 6. Sarcandra glabra (Thunb.) Nakai: 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’.
