Content is from Kirkbride et al. 2006, without modification. Updates are forthcoming.
Fruits: Pistil(s) compound, or simple; 1 (-U); with carpels united. Fruit pericarpium; simple; capsule (which may be gaping or closed), or berry (Oehradenus), or follicle (Sesamoides (Astrocarya) - last 2 not Spjut); pyxidium capsule (Reseda); capsule not inflated; capsule without operculum; berry indehiscent; berry without central placental mass; without persistent central column; not within accessory organ(s); 1-seeded to many-seeded; 1-seeded (to many); with (2–)3(–7)-carpellate ((2-)3–6(-7)); with carpels united, or separate; with carpels remaining united at maturity, or separating at maturity; with carpels radiating at maturity (Sesamoides, Caylusia), or not radiating at maturity; with carpels separating at style; without sterile carpels; not sulcate; apex not beaked; wall chartaceous, or crustaceous; indehiscent, or dehiscent. Dehiscent unit seed(s). Dehiscent passively (assumed); and shedding seeds; without replum. Epicarp blue; durable; leathery, or membranous, or crustaceous; without armature; smooth, or not smooth; punctate glandular; without wing(s); without apical respiratory hole. Mesocarp present, or absent. 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 present, or absent; an arillike structure. Arillike structure falling with seed a caruncle (Reseda or is it an aril?); carunculoid (stalklike). Seed minute to larger than minute; less than 1 mm long to 1 to less than 5 mm long; 0.5–3 mm long; reniform, or hippocrepiform; in transection terete; not bowl shaped; not nutlike; without winglike beak; without caudate appendage(s); at maturity with food reserves, or without food reserves; with endosperm and perisperm; without canavanine. Sarcotesta absent. Testa present (& outer layer may flake off or detach but inner layers always present); without markedly different marginal tissue; without fleshy or leathery layer over hard layer; tight; shiny, or dull; surface unsmooth, or smooth; surface with discreet raised features, or merged raised features; surface papillate, or verrucose; surface rugose; without crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle, or with crease or line separating cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle; without notch along margin where cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle tip approach each other, or with notch along margin where cotyledons from hypocotyl-radicle tip approaching each other; without glands; without bristles; glabrous; without wings; without collar; without operculum; colored; monochrome; black, or brown (all shades), or green, or red, or gray (latter three ish); crustaceous; not becoming mucilaginous when wetted; technically correct surrounding food reserve, or surrounding embryo (essentially). Endosperm development nuclear; moderate (often capping cotyledons and/or between cotyledons & hypocotyl), or copious (Ochradenus); without fatty acid containing cyclopropene; without apical lobes; without chlorophyll; without isodiametric faceted surface; without odor. Perisperm opaque. Embryo differentiated from food reserve; well developed; 1 per seed; nearly filling testa (trace or scanty food reserve); 1 times the length of food reserve; at one end of seed not extending into a depression or cup; linear; C-shaped, or arcuate; parallel to seed length; with cotyledons gradually connected to hypocotyl-radicle; without coleorhiza; without simmondsin; with cotyledons containing oils; without stomata; not green; with 2 or more cotyledons. Cotyledons 2; well developed, or moderately developed; 0.4–0.5 times length of embryo; as wide as hypocotyl-radicle; 1 times wider than hypocotyl-radicle; not concealing hypocotyl-radicle; not foliaceous; thick; flat, or once-folded; smooth; with apices entire; with margins separate; basally entire; equal in size, or unequal in size; more or less unequal (one slightly larger); not punctate dotted. Hypocotyl-radicle moderately developed, or well developed; straight; not thickened. Plumule undeveloped.
Literature specific to this family: Abdallah, M.S. & H.C.D. de Wit. 1968 & 1978. The Resedaceae. Meded. Landbouwhoogeschool 67:1–98, figs. 1–17, 78:99–416, figs. 18–91.
General references: Baillon, H.E. 1866–95. Histoire des plantes, 13 vols. Hachette & 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, Engler, A. & 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) & 1989 (monocots). Classification, evolution, and phylogeny of the familes of Dicotyledons. Smithsonian Contr. Bot. 58 for dicots (314 pp.) & 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, & J.H. Kirkbride, Jr. 1992 & amendments. Families and genera of Spermatophytes recognized by the Agricultural Research Service. Techn. Bull. U.S.D.A. 1796:1–500, LeMaout, E. & J. Decaisne. 1876. A general system of botany, 1,065 p. Longmans, Green, & 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, and Spjut, R.W. 1994. A systematic treatment of fruit types. Mem. New York Bot. Gard. 70:1–182.
Authors: M. Islam, A. Miller, M. Maher, J. Scher, A. Redford
Content last updated November 2022
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