| | Family guide for fruits and seeds |
Synonyms: Damasoniaceae Nakai
Common name: Water-plantain Family.
Number of genera 11. Number of species 96.
Angiosperm. Liliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or an intact or entire fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; more than 21; many; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple, or multiple; achene, or follicle (Damasonium & neither from Spjut); achenetum, or follicetum, or camaretum (Damasonium); without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); many-seeded, or 1-seeded (depending on definition of fruit); 1-seeded (to many); 100-carpellate (many- carpellate); with carpels united; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; in transection flat; apex beaked; apex moderately beaked; indehiscent, or dehiscent (Damosonium). Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent regularly; but retaining seed(s), or and shedding seeds (Damasonium); without replum. Epicarp brown (all shades), or black, or yellow (ish); durable; glabrous (without hairs), or not glabrous (with hairs); hairs short; hairs not glandular; without armature; not smooth; glandular and ribbed, or glandular (glands between ribs on winged fruits; or glands without ribs on non-winged fruits); with wing(s), or without wing(s); 1-winged; with wing(s) lateral; without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp absent. Endocarp present; not separating from exocarp; thin; 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, or without apparent food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; surface smooth, or unsmooth; surface with merged raised features; surface transversely ridged, or striate; with crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle, or 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; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; brown (all shades); membranous; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Endosperm development helobial, or nuclear (seldom); trace.
Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; partially filling testa (with food reserve); at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; axile and centric; linear; bent, or U-shaped; without coleoptile; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green (black); with 1 cotyledon. Cotyledons one and terminal with lateral plumule; not modified into scutellum; not circinately coiled. Hypocotyl-radicle well developed; straight; not thickened. Plumule moderately developed, or well developed; lateral and not fitting into groove along terminal cotyledon.
Distribution
Cosmopolitan. New World. North America, Middle America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Major, Asia Minor, southeastern Asia, Australia, Oceania (best developed in New World).
Notes
Spjut: Achenetum = multiple fruit composed of indehiscent contiguous to 1 or more seeds" - example Alisma plantago-aquatica. Dahlgren et al.: "carpels develop into nutlets or rarely as in Damasonium into follicles". Cronquist: "distinct achenes or seldom basally dehiscent follicles" Read Kak & Durani (1989). We also scored achene and follicle.
Weed information
1 or more USA Federal noxious weeds, 1 or more USA state noxious weeds.
USA Federal noxious weeds: -- Sagittaria sagittifolia L.: USA Federal Noxious Weedª●; USA state noxious weed: MAª, NCª, NHª, OKª, SCª. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
USA states and territories with listed noxious weeds: Maine (ME), Massachusetts (MA), New Hampshire (NH), North Carolina (NC), Oklahoma (OK), Puerto Rico (PR), South Carolina (SC), Washington (WA).
USA state and territory noxious weeds: -- Sagittaria graminea Michx.: USA state noxious weed: PRª, WAª. -- Sagittaria japonica hort.: USA state noxious weed: NHª. -- Sagittaria lancifolia L.: USA state noxious weed: PRª. -- Sagittaria latifolia Willd.: USA state noxious weed: PRª. -- Sagittaria platyphylla (Engrlm.) J. G. Sm.: USA state noxious weed: WAª. -- Sagittaria sagittifolia L.: USA Federal Noxious Weedª●; USA state noxious weed: MAª, NCª, NHª, OKª, SCª. -- Sagittaria spp.: USA state noxious weed: PRª. -- Symbols: ªaquatic weed; ●terrestrial weed; °weed in seed. -- Last updated September 2008.
Listed seeds
ASOA listed seeds, ISTA listed seeds.
ASOA listed seeds: -- Alisma plantago-aquatica L. -- Sagittaria sagittifolia L. -- Last updated September 2008.
ISTA listed seeds: -- Sagittaria graminea Michx.w -- Sagittaria montevidensis Cham. & Schltdl.w -- Sagittaria pygmaea Miq.w -- Sagittaria sagittifolia L. -- Sagittaria trifolia L. -- 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
Alisma L. -- Baldellia Parl. -- Burnatia Micheli -- Caldesia Parl. -- Damasonium Mill. -- Echinodorus Rich. ex Engelm. -- Limnophyton Miq. -- Luronium Raf. -- Ranalisma Stapf -- Sagittaria L. -- Wiesneria Micheli
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 1049. Kak, A.M.. & S. Durani. 1989. Seed morphology of the family Alismataceae. J. Econ. Taxon. Bot. 13:501–509.
General references
Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, Dahlgren, R.M.T., H.T. Clifford and P.F. Yeo. 1985. The families of the monocotyledons, 520 pp. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, Engler, A. and K. Prantl. 1924 and onward. Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilimien. W. Engelman, Leipzig, 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, Haynes, R.R. and L.B. Holm-Nielsen. 1985. A generic treatment of Alismatidae in the neotropics with special reference to Brazil. Acta Amazonica, Supl. 15:153–193, 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, Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit (single & head) illustrations. Some seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Gunn & Ritchie, Engler & Prantl, Haynes & Holm-Nielsen, Cronquist, LeMaout & Decasine. Seed illustration(s): Haynes & Holm-Nielsen, Gunn & Ritchie. Embryo illustration(s): LeMaout & Decaisne, Gunn & Ritchie.
• Fruit. 1 of 14. Alisma plantago-aquatica L.: fruiting head in calyx and fruits. • Seed. 2 of 14. Alisma plantago-aquatica L.: seeds. • Fruit. 3 of 14. Alisma oligococca (F. Muell.) Buchenau: fruiting head in calyx and fruits. • Seed. 4 of 14. Alisma oligococca (F. Muell.) Buchenau: seed. • Fruit. 5 of 14. Damasonium californicum Torr.: fruiting head in calyx and fruits. • Seed. 6 of 14. Damasonium californicum Torr.: seeds. • Fruit. 7 of 14. Echinodorus tenellus (Mart.) Buchenau: dehisced fruits. • Seed. 8 of 14. Echinodorus tenellus (Mart.) Buchenau: seeds. • Fruit. 9 of 14. Sagittaria teres S. Watson: fruits. • Seed. 10 of 14. Sagittaria teres S. Watson: seeds. • Embryo. 11 of 14. Alisma lanceolatum With.: embryo. • Embryo. 12 of 14. Damasonium minus (R. Br.) Buchenau: embryo. • Embryo. 13 of 14. Sagittaria pygmaea Miq.: embryo. • Embryo. 14 of 14. Sagittaria sagittifolia 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’.
