| | Family guide for fruits and seeds |
Synonyms: Cansjeraceae J. Agardh
Common name: Opilia Family.
Number of genera 10. Number of species 28.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule an intact or entire fruit.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; drupe; without persistent central column; with styles(s); at apex; within accessory organ(s), or not within accessory organ(s); within thick cupule; 1-seeded; 1-seeded; from 1–5 cm long; 1.2–1.7 cm long; 2–5-carpellate; with carpels united; with carpels remaining united at maturity; with carpels not radiating at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; apex not beaked; indehiscent. Epicarp yellow to orange; durable; glabrous (without hairs), or not glabrous (with hairs); hairs very short; hairs scattered; hairs not glandular; without armature; smooth; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; fleshy and thin, or crustaceous (when dry); composed of 1 unified layer; without lactiform cavity system. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; hard; not splitting into 1-seeded pyrenes; without operculum; without secretory cavities; 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; 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 (Airy Shaw erronously recorded absent); without markedly different marginal tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; 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; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; thin (Mabberley: integument sometimes not recognizable); not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Endosperm development cellular; copious; amgdoloidal; with starch; 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; partially filling testa (with food reserve); 0.5–0.9 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; linear; straight (to slightly curved); parallel to seed length; embedded in endosperm; with cotyledons gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 3 to 4, or 2 (rarely); well developed; 0.5 times length of embryo; as wide as hypocotyl-radicle; 1 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; not foliaceous; thin; flat; smooth; with apices entire; with margins adhering; basally entire; equal in size; not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed; straight; not thickened.
Distribution
Pantropical and pansubtropical. New World, Old World. Middle America, South America, Africa, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Agonandra Miers ex Benth. & Hook. f. -- Cansjera Juss., nom. cons. -- Champereia Griff. -- Gjellerupia Lauterb. -- Lepionurus Blume -- Melientha Pierre -- Opilia Roxb. -- Pentarhopalopilia (Engl.) Hiepko -- Rhopalopilia Pierre -- Urobotrya Stapf
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 684.
General references
Airy Shaw, H.K. 1973. A dictionary of the flowering plants and ferns, 1,131 pp. University Press, Cambridge, 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, 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, Mabberley, D.J. 1987. The plant-book, 706 p. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182, Wight, R. 1840–1853. Icones plantarum Indiae orientalis, 6 vols. J.B. Pharoah, Madras.
Illustrations
Poor fruit and seed illustration. Cronquist has no illustration. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Wight [40 & 1891]. Seed illustration(s): Wight [1891].
• Fruit. 1 of 3. Opilia celtidifolia (Guill. & Perr.) Walp.: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 3. Opilia celtidifolia (Guill. & Perr.) Walp.: seed. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Agonandra silvatica Ducke: 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’.
