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Synonyms: Agdestidaceae Nakai; Barbeuiaceae Nakai; Gisekiaceae Nakai; Hilleriaceae Nakai; Lophiocarpaceae Doweld & Reveal; Petiveriaceae C. Agardh; Rivinaceae C. Agardh; Stegnospermataceae Nakai
Common name: Pokeweed Family.
Number of genera 19. Number of species 65.
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or an intact or entire fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple, or schizocarp; capsule (Stegnosperma - not Spjut), or samara; baccarium (Spjut 6 families: Apocynaceae, Oleaceae, Phytolaccaceae, Sapindaceae, Saururaceae, Tropaeolaceae); capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s), or within accessory organ(s); within calyx; 1-seeded to many-seeded; 1-seeded (to many); 2-carpellate (to many); with carpels united, or separate; with carpels remaining united at maturity; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; in transection terete; apex not beaked; wall leathery, or fleshy, or woody; dehiscent, or indehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent passively (assumed); and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp black; shiny, or dull; durable; glabrous (without hairs); without armature, or with armature; with spines; without armature glochidiate; smooth, or not smooth; with wing(s), or without wing(s); 1-winged; with wing(s) encompassing (Semonvillea), or apical (Seguieria); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present; fleshy; composed of 1 unified layer; without lactiform cavity system. Endocarp present, or absent; not separating from exocarp; thin; 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, or present (Barberia, Stegnosperma); a true aril; Stegnosperma red, or yellow (Barbeuia); well developed; adnate to hilum; fleshy; of funicular origin; marginal; saccate. Seed larger than minute; less than 1 mm long and 1 to less than 5 mm long; 1–4 mm long; circular, or linear, or oblong, or reniform, or elliptic, or oval; in transection compressed; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves; with perisperm, or endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without markedly different marginal tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; shiny; surface smooth, or unsmooth; surface with merged raised features; surface striate; with crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle, or without crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle; with notch along margin where cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle tip approaching each other, or without notch along margin where cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle tip approach each other; without glands; without bristles; glabrous, or pubescent (Rivinia whose hairs are from endocarp); without glandular pubescence; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; black; membranous, or crustaceous; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding embryo. Hilum punctate. Raphe conspicuous; texture as testa; as long as seed; included in dehisced fruit. Endosperm development nuclear.
Perisperm copious; crystalline granular, or mealy, or soft; with starch; with starch composed of clustered grains; semi transparent, or opaque; smooth. Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve), or nearly filling testa (trace or scanty food reserve); 1–2.3 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; peripheral; linear, or foliate; bent, or arcuate, or C-shaped, or straight, or annular; 90% annular, or 100% annular, or 125% annular; usually surrounding perisperm; with cotyledons gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.5–0.7 times length of embryo; as wide as hypocotyl-radicle; 1–1.5 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; foliaceous, or not foliaceous; thin; flat, or convoluted; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size, or unequal in size (Barbeuia); not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed to well developed; curved; not thickened.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan. New World, Old World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania.
Notes
Spjut did not score nut of Agdestis. Goldberg: recognized Agdesidaceae (fruit unilocular, 1-seeded nutlet, winged by calyx lobes), Barbeuiaceae (fruit woody capsule), Petiveriaceae & Phytolaccaceae (fruits berry, samara, or spiny nutlet), Stegnospermataceae (fruit capsule, valves separating to base).
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
ASOA listed seeds, ISTA listed seeds.
ASOA listed seeds: -- Phytolacca americana L. -- Last updated September 2008.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Rivina humilis L.w -- 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
Agdestis Moc. & Sessé ex DC. -- Anisomeria D. Don -- Barbeuia Thouars -- Ercilla A. Juss. -- Gallesia Casar. -- Gisekia L. -- Hilleria Vell. -- Ledenbergia Klotzsch ex Moq. -- Lophiocarpus Turcz. -- Microtea Sw. -- Monococcus F. Muell. -- Nowickea J. Martínez & J. A. McDonald -- Petiveria L. -- Phytolacca L. -- Rivina L. -- Schindleria H. Walter -- Seguieria Loefl. -- Stegnosperma Benth. -- Trichostigma A. Rich. --
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 248. Liogier, H.A. 1985. Descriptive flora of Puerto Rico and adjacent islands, vol 1. Universidad de Puerto Rico, San Juan.
General references
Baillon, H.E. 1866–95. Histoire des plantes, 13 vols. Hachette and Co., Paris, 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, Gaertner, J. 1788–1805. De fructibus et seminibus plantarum. The Author, Stuttgart, 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. and C.A. Ritchie. 1988. Identification of disseminules listed in the Federal Noxious Weed Act. Techn. Bull. U.S.D.A. 1719:1–313, 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, Mabberley, D.J. 1987. The plant-book, 706 p. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, Martin, A.C. 1946. The comparative internal morphology of seeds. Amer. Midl. Naturalist 36:513–660, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182, Mirle, C. and R.J. Burnham. 1999. Identification of asymmetrically winged samaras from the Western Hemisphere. Brittonia 51:1–14.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): LeMaout & Decaisne, Cronquist, Liogier (1985), Baillon, Gunn & Ritchie. Seed illustration(s): Gunn & Ritchie, Baillon, LeMaout & Decaisne. Embryo illustration(s): Gunn & Ritchie, Martin, Baillon, LeMaout & Decaisne.
• Seed. 1 of 5. Phytolacca dodecandra L'Hér.: seeds. • Fruit. 2 of 5. Seguieria aculeata Jacq.: fruit. • Seed. 3 of 5. Seguieria aculeata Jacq.: seed. • Embryo. 4 of 5. Gisekia africana (Lour.) Kuntze: embryo. • Embryo. 5 of 5. Phytolacca icosandra L.: 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’.
