The Families of Flowering Plants
The Families of Flowering Plants | |
~ Ebenaceae
Habit and leaf form. Small trees. Leaves alternate; petiolate; non-sheathing; simple. Lamina entire; pinnately veined; cross-venulate. Leaves exstipulate. Lamina margins entire.
Leaf anatomy. Stomata present; anomocytic, or cyclocytic.
Stem anatomy. Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring (?). Xylem with fibre tracheids. Vessel end-walls scalariform and simple.
Reproductive type, pollination. Plants hermaphrodite.
Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in cymes. The terminal inflorescence unit cymose. Inflorescences axillary; small axillary cymes. Flowers (bi) bracteolate; regular; cyclic; tetracyclic.
Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 8; 2 whorled; isomerous. Calyx 4; 1 whorled; gamosepalous; four blunt-lobed; campanulate; regular; imbricate. Corolla 4; 1 whorled; appendiculate (in the form of a short, tubular, 8-toothed corona in the throat); gamopetalous; contorted.
Androecium 8. Androecial members adnate; coherent (the filaments shortly connate); 1 whorled (in a single series). Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 8; inserted near the base of the corolla tube, or midway down the corolla tube; diplostemonous; both alternating with and opposite the corolla members. Anthers linear, dehiscing via longitudinal slits; tetrasporangiate; appendaged (by an apiculate-prolonged connective). The anther appendages apical. Pollen shed as single grains. Pollen grains aperturate; 3 aperturate; porate.
Gynoecium 4 carpelled. Carpels isomerous with the perianth. The pistil 4 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; eu-syncarpous; inferior. Ovary 4 locular. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 1; apical (clavate). Stigmas 1; capitate or shallowly four-lobed. Placentation axile. Ovules 2 per locule; pendulous.
Fruit somewhat fleshy; indehiscent; 1 seeded, or 2 seeded. Seeds copiously endospermic. Embryo well differentiated (rather large). Embryo straight.
Geography, cytology. Neotropical. Tropical. Tropical South America.
Taxonomy. Subclass Dicotyledonae; Tenuinucelli (probably), or Crassinucelli (?). Dahlgren’s Superorder Primuliflorae; Ebenales. Cronquist’s Subclass Dilleniidae; Ebenales. APG (1998) family of uncertain position at the highest group level. Species 2. Genera 1; Lissocarpa.
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 2008. http://delta-intkey.com’.