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Common name: Ctenolophon Family.
Number of genera 1. Number of species 3 (Ctenolophon englerianus Mildbr., C. grandifolius Oliv. & C. parvifolius Oliv.).
Angiosperm. Magnoliopsida.
Disseminule a dehisced fruit, or a seed.
Fruits
Pistil(s) compound; 1; 1-pistillate; with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; capsule; polospermatium capsule (Spjut listed 2 families: Euphorbiaceae & Ctenolophonaceae as Hugoniaceae); capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; with persistent central column; but filiform; valves diverging from top of central column (resembling umbrella ribs); not within accessory organ(s); 1-seeded; 1-seeded; 1.3–2.4 cm long; 2-carpellate, or 1-carpellate; without sterile carpels; apex not beaked; wall woody; dehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp brown (all shades); shiny; durable; not glabrous (with hairs); hairs dense (tufted hairs); hairs not glandular; without armature; not smooth; ribbed; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Endocarp present; 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 present; a true aril; orange, or red (brilliant), or white; well developed; adnate to hilum; fleshy; of funicular origin; basal (up to lower half); does not aid in seed explusion from fruit; fibrous, or fleshy; hairy-papillose which are red when dry surrounded by a gelinous transparent layer. Seed larger than minute; 1 to less than 5 mm long to 5 to less than 10 mm long; 4–7 mm long; elliptic, or obovate, or straight; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves, or without food reserves; with endosperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; surface smooth, or unsmooth; surface with depressed features; surface grooved; 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; red (olive-), or brown (all shades) (purplish-); crustaceous; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; surrounding food reserve. Hilum apical. Endosperm copious; fleshy and soft (spongy); 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; nearly filling testa (trace or scanty food reserve); at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; foliate; with investing cotyledons (more or less); straight; with cotyledons abruptly connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed; 0.8 times length of embryo; somewhat to significantly wider than hypocotyl-radicle; 3 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; equal in size; not punctate dotted.
Distribution
Old World. Africa (tropical western), southeastern Asia (western Malaysia).
Notes
Hooren & Nooteboom in Steenis vol. 10, part 3: "Seed 1, persisting after falling of pericarp and pendulous from the top of a filiform columella; arilloid papillose, surrounding lower half of the seed". This paper has excellent seed & fruit drawings.
Weed information
No USA noxious weeds.
Listed seeds
No ASOA or ISTA listed seeds.
Accepted genera
Ctenolophon Oliv.
References specific to this family
Cronquist page 759 (Cronquist & Spjut have in Hugoniaceae; Mabberley has in Linaceae). Badré, F. 1972b. Malpighiacées, Linacées, Lépidobotrtacées, Cténolophonacées, Húmiriacées, Erythroxylacées, Ixonanthacées. In: A. Aubréville & J.-F. Leroy, eds., Flore du Cameroun, vol. 14, pp. 3–63. Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, Paris; Keay, R.W.J., C.F.A. Onochie, & D.P. Stanfield. 1989. Trees of Nigeria, ed. 2. Clarendon Press, Oxford.
General references
Cronquist, A. 1981. An integrated system of classification of flowering plants, 1,262 p. Columbia University Press, New York, Engler, A. 1900–1953. Das Pflanzenreich, nos. 1–107. Facsimile edition. Engelmann-Cramer, Weinheim, 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, Steenis, C.G.G.J. van, ed. 1950 onwards. Flora Malesiana, ser. 1. Spermatophyta. Noordhoff-Kolff, Djakarta.
Illustrations
Acceptable fruit and seed illustrations. Disseminule illustration(s): fruit, or seed, or embryo. Fruit illustration(s): Steenis vol. 10, part 3. Seed illustration(s): Karen, Steenis vol. 10, part 3. Embryo illustration(s): Karen. Karen's plate number and taxon (taxa): 240: Original plate for Linaceae and now recognized in Hugonaceae: Ctenolophon parvifolius Oliver (A-B).
• Fruit. 1 of 3. Ctenolophon parviflorus Oliv.: fruit. • Seed. 2 of 3. Ctenolophon parviflorus Oliv.: seed. • Embryo. 3 of 3. Ctenolophon parviflorus Oliv.: 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’.
