Brassicaceae

Taxonomy

Family name: Brassicaceae Burnett or Cruciferae Jussieu

Synonym(s): Raphanaceae Horan.; Stanleyaceae Nutt.; Thlaspiaceae Martinov

Common name(s): mustard family

*Number of genera/species: 332/3,628

List of genera records in GRIN-Global

Key to genera see BrassiBase

Disseminule

fruit, fruit segment, or seed

Description

Fruit usually dehiscentdehiscent:
(v. dehisce) splitting open at maturity to release contents (of a fruit)
, bivalved capsulecapsule:
a dry, dehiscent fruit formed by two or more carpels
(commonly called siliquesilique:
(includes silicle) a fruit derived from a 2-carpellate gynoecium in which the two halves of the fruit split away from a persistent partition (around the rim of which the seeds are attached)
or siliclesilique:
(includes silicle) a fruit derived from a 2-carpellate gynoecium in which the two halves of the fruit split away from a persistent partition (around the rim of which the seeds are attached)
), dehiscing longitudinally from the base to apexapex:
the point farthest from the point of attachment, or the "tip" of an organ
with two locules often divided by a persistent partition, sometimes indehiscentindehiscent:
not opening on its own, as in a fruit
. Fruits 1–180 mm long, globoseglobose:
3D shape—more or less spherical
to toruloseknotted:
3D shape—a cylindrical or ellipsoid body that is swollen and constricted at intervals; torulose
, compressedcompressed:
flattened; in grasses, used to denote compression (not necessarily flattened) either laterally or dorsiventrally
at right angles or parallel to the septumseptum:
(pl. septa) a dividing cross wall or partition
, quadrangularquadrangular:
2D shape—four-sided, as in a square or rectangle
, or tereteterete:
approximately circular in cross section; width and thickness approximately equal
in transectiontransection:
a cross section; representing a plane made by cutting across an organ at a right angle to its length
, often beakedbeak:
a usually firm, terminal appendage, sometimes tapered
, one, few, or many-seeded. Pericarppericarp:
fruit wall or fruit coat
usually brown (all shades), paperypapery:
texture—papyraceous, chartaceous; very thin, pliable, and readily torn; like paper
, woodywoody:
texture—consisting mainly of indurate lignified tissues, characteristic of or resembling wood
or corkycorky:
firm, relatively light, discontinuous but strongly cohesive, and resilient
, glabrousglabrous:
without hairs
or pubescentpubescent:
surface relief—bearing hairs
(scabrous with minute forked, stellatestellate:
star-shaped; with radiating branches
, or dendric hairs to densely covered with long silky hairs), keeledkeel:
a longitudinal ridge, like the keel of a boat, formed by the lengthwise folding of a structure, such as a lemma or palea
to winged. If wings present, transversely 2-, 4-, 6-, or 10-winged, sometimes apically winged. Pericarppericarp:
fruit wall or fruit coat
smooth or unsmooth, sometimes with hornshorn:
a straight or curved, slenderly conic or conoidal protrusion, resembling an animal horn
, crests, or spine-like projections. Seed arrangement in locules may help in identification to genus, note if uniseriateuniseriate:
arranged in a single row; e.g. seeds arranged in a single row within a locule
, biseriatebiseriate:
arranged in two rows; e.g. seeds arranged in two rows within a locule
, or aseriate, see BrassiBase.

Seed globoseglobose:
3D shape—more or less spherical
, oblongoblong:
2D shape—much longer than broad with nearly parallel sides, corners are rounded
, ovoidovoid:
3D shape—ovate
, or lanceoloidlanceoloid:
3D shape—lanceolate
, flattened, compressedcompressed:
flattened; in grasses, used to denote compression (not necessarily flattened) either laterally or dorsiventrally
, or tereteterete:
approximately circular in cross section; width and thickness approximately equal
, usually 0.3–4 mm long, rarely to 18 mm. If winged, with marginalmarginal:
at, on, or close to the margin or border
wing or wing is confined to one or both ends. Seed coat usually black or brown, dulldull:
reflecting only a low proportion of incident light, with no apparent sheen
or shinyshiny:
uniformly reflecting a high proportion of incident light at all angles
, thinthin:
having or being of relatively little depth
or crustaceouscrustaceous:
texture—thin, dry, indurate, and brittle
, sometimes mucilaginousmucilaginous:
resembling mucilage; moist and sticky
, sculptured or rough. Hilumhilum:
on seeds, the scar indicating where the funiculus was attached; on grass caryopses, the scar visible on the outer fruit surface revealing where the seed is attached on the inner fruit wall surface; or in Asteraceae cypselae, the scar visible on the outer fruit wall revealing where the fruit was attached to the receptacle
punctate or larger than punctatepunctate:
surface relief—dotted with pits or with translucent, sunken glands or with colored dots, similar to pitted
.

Embryo well developed, completely filling seed coat, axileaxile:
on or of the axis
and centric, foliatefoliate:
appearing leaf-like
, bentbent:
(of embryo) embryo is bent at an acute, V-shaped angle with the ends close together and generally thick cotyledons
to strongly curvedcurved:
(of embryo) linear embryo is curved into an arch or horseshoe with the ends far apart
or folded, rarely straight (Leavenworthia), cotyledons wider than radicleradicle:
the embryonic root of the embryo
, sometimes as much as 10x wider. Cotyledonary position useful in identifying to tribe, see BrassiBase.

Endospermendosperm:
nutritive starch- and oil-containing tissue present in many seeds
scanty.

Identification features

Fruit
Type	bivalved capsulecapsule: a dry, dehiscent fruit formed by two or more carpels (silique or siliclesilique: (includes silicle) a fruit derived from a 2-carpellate gynoecium in which the two halves of the fruit split away from a persistent partition (around the rim of which the seeds are attached) ), nutlike, schizocarpschizocarp: fruit formed from a single ovary, with fused carpels, with or without accessory tissue; splitting between locules to form distinct, indehiscent, usually one seeded segments; usually dry, rarely fleshy (compare mericarp) (e.g. Raphanus), samaralike
Size range	1–180 mm long
Shape(s)	globose, ellipsoidellipsoid: 3D shape—elliptic , fusiformfusiform: spindle-shaped; broadest at the middle and tapering at both ends , oblongoblong: 2D shape—much longer than broad with nearly parallel sides, corners are rounded , linearlinear: (shape) long, narrow, and uniform in width; (of embryo) embryo is straight and much longer than wide , ovoidovoid: 3D shape—ovate , lanceoloidlanceoloid: 3D shape—lanceolate , pyriform, clavateclavate: 3D shape—club-shaped, with attachment at or near narrow end (compare obclavate) , cordiformcordiform: 3D shape—heart-shaped , deltoid, panduriformpanduriform: 3D shape—fiddle-shaped, obovate with deep, rounded sinuses opposite one another , toruloseknotted: 3D shape—a cylindrical or ellipsoid body that is swollen and constricted at intervals; torulose , didymous
Texture	papery, woodywoody: texture—consisting mainly of indurate lignified tissues, characteristic of or resembling wood , corky
Surface relief	smooth, longitudinally ribbedribbed: surface relief—wide, prominent, linear ridges that are generally rounded and longitudinally situated on the surface , proximately reticulately veinedveined: surface relief—lines that intersect in a vein pattern that is flush or slightly raised from the surface , striatestriate: surface relief—having fine, parallel lines, grooves or ridges , echinate, papillosepapillate: surface relief—bearing minute, distinct, broad-based projections, tapering to a rounded apex , wartywarty: surface relief—distinct, rounded projections that are large relative to the fruit size; tuberculate, verrucose , wrinkledwrinkled: surface relief—shallow, irregular folds and furrows covering the surface; appearing overall though crumpled and then spread out , or with horn-shaped or spine-like projections; often pubescent
Color(s)	brown (all shades), green, red, purple
Unique features	Usually bivalved capsulescapsule: a dry, dehiscent fruit formed by two or more carpels , opening longitudinally from the base to apexapex: the point farthest from the point of attachment, or the "tip" of an organ , with few to many seeds attached to the persistent rim or replumreplum: the rim, formed by the persistent placentas, and connected by a false septum in Brassicaceae fruits. The fruit valves are attached to this rim and separate from it in dehiscent fruits. , and divided by a paperypapery: texture—papyraceous, chartaceous; very thin, pliable, and readily torn; like paper or membranousmembranous: texture—extremely thin, pliable, and fairly tough partition. Often with persistent stylestyle: in a flower, the narrow and elongated part of the pistil between the stigma and the ovary; sometimes persisting in fruit remnant and/or beakedbeak: a usually firm, terminal appendage, sometimes tapered .
Seed
Size range	usually less than 4 mm long
Shape(s)	globose, oblongoblong: 2D shape—much longer than broad with nearly parallel sides, corners are rounded , ovoidovoid: 3D shape—ovate , lanceoloid
Surface relief	grooved, ribbedribbed: surface relief—wide, prominent, linear ridges that are generally rounded and longitudinally situated on the surface , pittedpitted: surface relief—surface with small depressions in which the areas between the hollows do not take on the appearance of a true reticular net , reticulatereticulate: surface relief—netted, raised walls or concave grooves forming a net-like surface pattern with flat, concave, or convex interspaces , tuberculatetuberculate: surface relief—bearing small, warty, swelling, rounded, or variously shaped projections , wartywarty: surface relief—distinct, rounded projections that are large relative to the fruit size; tuberculate, verrucose , wrinkled
Color(s)	usually black, brown (all shades), yellow, or white, sometimes gray, green, or orange
Unique features	Small seeds of two types, globoseglobose: 3D shape—more or less spherical with minutely reticulatereticulate: surface relief—netted, raised walls or concave grooves forming a net-like surface pattern with flat, concave, or convex interspaces , pittedpitted: surface relief—surface with small depressions in which the areas between the hollows do not take on the appearance of a true reticular net , wartywarty: surface relief—distinct, rounded projections that are large relative to the fruit size; tuberculate, verrucose or wrinkledwrinkled: surface relief—shallow, irregular folds and furrows covering the surface; appearing overall though crumpled and then spread out seed coat or flattened and orbicularorbicular: 2D shape—circular in outline, 3D shape—globose to lanceolatelanceolate: 2D shape—lance-shaped; much longer than wide, with widest point below the middle, tapering to the apex (compare oblanceolate) in outline, pittedpitted: surface relief—surface with small depressions in which the areas between the hollows do not take on the appearance of a true reticular net or rough seed coat, often winged, notched or cleft margin, and with groove or line between outwardly visible cotyledoncotyledon: a primary leaf of the embryo and radicleradicle: the embryonic root of the embryo . Seeds with curvedcurved: (of embryo) linear embryo is curved into an arch or horseshoe with the ends far apart or folded embryos filling the seed coat, visible in the flattened seed type. Seed coat often mucilaginousmucilaginous: resembling mucilage; moist and sticky when wetted.
Other
Embryo	well developed, completely filling seed coat, axileaxile: on or of the axis and centric, foliatefoliate: appearing leaf-like , bentbent: (of embryo) embryo is bent at an acute, V-shaped angle with the ends close together and generally thick cotyledons to strongly curvedcurved: (of embryo) linear embryo is curved into an arch or horseshoe with the ends far apart or folded, rarely straight (Leavenworthia), cotyledons wider than radicleradicle: the embryonic root of the embryo , sometimes as much as 10x wider
Nutritive tissuenutritive tissue: tissue within the seeds that nourishes the developing embryo; such as endosperm, perisperm, or chalazosperm in angiosperms; megagametophyte in gymnosperms	endosperm endosperm: nutritive starch- and oil-containing tissue present in many seeds scanty

Distribution

Nearly worldwide, primarily temperate regions with scattered representation in the Southern Hemisphere.

Distribution map courtesy of Angiosperm Phylogeny Website.

References

Flora of North America Editorial Committee 1993+; Kiefer et al. 2014; Kirkbride et al. 2006; Kubitzki et al. 1990+; USDA 1980; Zhengyi et al. 2004+; Zomlefer 1996

*The number of genera and species is based on Christenhusz and Byng 2016, which may differ from the number of genera in GRIN-Global.