Descriptions
According to Flora of Tropical East Africa
[FTEA]Cornaceae, B. Verdcourt. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1958
- Habit
- Trees, shrubs or rarely perennial herbs
- Leaves
- Leaves simple, alternate or opposite, entire or serrate; stipules usually absent
- Flowers
- Flowers hermaphrodite or dioecious, in racemes, panicles, umbels, clusters of Cymules or compact heads
- Calyx
- Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary; sepals 4–5 or absent
- Corolla
- Petals 4–5 or rarely absent, imbricate or valvate
- Androecium
- Stamens 4–5, alternating with the petals
- Gynoecium
- Ovary inferior, usually 2-celled but often 1–4 (–10)-celled; ovules pendulous, one per loculus
- Fruits
- Fruit a drupe or berry; embryo small in abundant endosperm
According to Neotropikey
[NTK]Every, J.L.R. (2010). Neotropical Cornaceae.
- Morphology
-
Description
Trees or shrubs. Leaves opposite or alternate , simple , margins entire or denticulate , primary venation pinnate , arching, trichomes T-shaped, branched or simple when present; stipules very rarely present. Inflorescences terminal occasionally axillary , cymose, involucres petal -like. Flowers bisexual (rarely unisexual and dioecious ), small, actinomorphic ; sepals 4(-10), connate , adnate to ovary ; petals 4(-10), free , valvate ; stamens alternipetalous and equal in number to petals, free , anthers dorsifixed, dehiscing via full-length longitudinal slits; ovary inferior, carpels 2, syncarpous. Fruit a grooved, globose or ovoid drupe . Seeds 2, flat.
- General Description
-
Notes on delimitation
- Cornus L. is placed in the Cornaceae which typifies the Cornales currently placed in the Asterid clade. (APG III, 2009).
- Cornus L.: Cornus disciflora DC., C. excelsa Kunth, C. florida L. and C. peruviana J. F. Macbr. growing in the Neotropics.
- Nyssa L.: with two species (N. sylvatica Marshall and N. talamancana Hammel & N.Zamora) in Mexico to Panama.
- Native.
- Distribution
-
Distribution in the Neotropics
- Found predominately at high elevations (1,400-3,000m above sea level) below the forest canopy in mountainous regions of Central America, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Mexico and Peru.
- Also cultivated in Brazil as an ornamental and for its wood throughout most of the Neotropical countries.
- Diagnostic
-
Distinguishing characters (always present)
- Actinodromousvenation.
- Involucres of petal -like bracts subtend the inflorescences.
- Sepals adnate to ovary.
- Petals valvate.
- Ovary inferior.
- Epigynous disk on top of ovary.
- Drupaceousfruit.
- A handy diagnostic trick in the field is to remove a suspected leaf, fold the leaf blade in half horizontally to form a crease, do this repeatedly until you are able to gently tear the leaf along the crease and gently pull it apart. The bottom half of the leaf will appear to hang in mid air, but on closer inspection you can see sticky threads stemming from the leaf veins.
- Some Viburnum species look similar to Cornaceae, but the latter often have 4-merous flowers, they lack stellateindumentum, and their lateralveins ascend towards the apex of the blade (Stevens, 2008 onwards).
- See distribution.
- Literature
-
Important literature
APG III. 2009. An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. Vol 161: 3. Pp. 105-121.
Kubitzki, K. 2004. Cornaceae. In: Kubitzki, K. (ed.), The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants, vol. VI, pp. 82-90. Springer Verlag, Berlin.
Lentz, D. L. 2004. Cornaceae. In: Smith, N., Mori, S. A., Henderson, A., Stevenson, D. W. and Heald, S. V. (eds). Flowering Plants of the Neotropics. Pp. 117-8. The New York Botanical Garden, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Smith, N. 2004. Nyssaceae: In: Smith, N., Mori, S. A., Henderson, A., Stevenson, D. W. and Heald, S. V. (eds). Flowering Plants of the Neotropics. Pp. 273-274. The New York Botanical Garden, Princeton University Press, Princeton.
Stevens, P. F. 2008. Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9 onwards. http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/.
Watson, L. and Dallwitz, M.J. (1992 onwards). The Families of Flowering Plants: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. Version 3rd March 2009. www.delta-intkey.com.
According to Flora Zambesiaca
[FZ]Cornaceae, J. F. M. Cannon. Flora Zambesiaca 4. 1978
- Habit
- Trees, shrubs, rarely perennial herbs or woody lianes
- Leaves
- Leaves opposite or less commonly alternate, simple, exstipulate
- Flowers
- Flowers hermaphrodite or unisexual (then the plants usually monoecious or polygamodioecious), actinomorphic in cymes or panicles, umbels or rarely in capitula and then with large petal-like bracts
- Calyx
- Calyx-tube adnate to the ovary, sepals 4–5
- Corolla
- Petals 4–5 (rarely lacking), aestivation imbricate or valvate
- Androecium
- Stamens the same number as the petals and alternating with them, anthers 2-celled dehiscing laterally or rarely introrsely
- Gynoecium
- Ovary inferior, with (1)2–4 locules Style 1 or several rising from a glandular disk Placentation usually axile, with 1 anatropous pendulous ovule in each loculus Ovules with 1 integument
- Fruits
- Fruit typically a drupe, sometimes a berry
- Seeds
- Seed with copious endosperm and a small embryo
According to Flora Zambesiaca under the synonym Alangiaceae
[FZ]Alangiaceae, J. F. M. Cannon. Flora Zambesiaca 4. 1978
- Habit
- Trees or shrubs, sometimes spiny (but not in FZ area)
- Leaves
- Leaves alternate, entire to very slightly undulate or lobed; distinctly petiolate, often somewhat asymmetric at the base, stipules 0
- Flowers
- Flowers hermaphrodite regular, in few-flowered (in FZ area) axillary cymes with articulated pedicels
- Calyx
- Calyx truncate or with 4–10 teeth
- Corolla
- Petals 4–10, valvate, linear, becoming strongly recurved at maturity, sometimes slightly coherent at the base
- Androecium
- Stamens the same number as and alternating with the petals, or up to 2–4 times as many; free or connate at the base, more or less villous adaxially; anthers 2-locular, linear
- Nectaries
- Disk subglobose, flattened above
- Gynoecium
- Ovary inferior, 1–2-locular, style simple, clavate or 1–3-lobed; ovules solitary, pendulous in the loculi, with 2 integuments
- Fruits
- Fruit drupaceous, crowned with the remains of the disk and sepals, l(2)-seeded
- Seeds
- Seeds with the embryo about equalling the endosperm
According to Flora of West Tropical Africa under the synonym Alangiaceae
[FWTA]Alangiaceae, Hutchinson and Dalziel. Flora of West Tropical Africa 1:2. 1958
- Habit
- Trees or shrubs, sometimes spiny
- Leaves
- Leaves alternate, simple; stipules absent
- Flowers
- Flowers hermaphrodite, actinomorphic, in axillary cymes; pedicels articulated
- Calyx
- Calyx truncate or with 4–10 teeth
- Corolla
- Petals 4–10, mostly linear, valvate, at length recurved, sometimes coherent at the base
- Androecium
- Stamens the same number as and alternate with the petals or 2–4 times as many, free or slightly connate at the base, more or less villous inside; anthers 2-celled, linear, opening lengthwise
- Nectaries
- Disk cushion-like
- Gynoecium
- Ovary inferior, 1–2-celled; style simple, clavate or lobed; ovule solitary, pendulous
- Fruits
- Fruit a drupe crowned by the sepals and disk, 1-seeded
- Seeds
- Seeds with the embryo about equal to the endosperm
According to Flora of Tropical East Africa under the synonym Alangiaceae
[FTEA]Alangiaceae, B. Verdcourt. Flora of Tropical East Africa. 1958
- Habit
- Trees or shrubs, often spiny
- Leaves
- Leaves alternate, exstipulate, petiolate, entire or lobed, often asymmetric at the base
- Flowers
- Flowers hermaphrodite, regular, in few to many-flowered axillary cymes
- Calyx
- Calyx truncate or divided into 4–10 lobes, or denticulate
- Corolla
- Petals 4–10, linear, valvate, often joined at the extreme base
- Androecium
- Stamens equal in number to the petals and alternating with them or up to four times as many, free or slightly joined at the base
- Gynoecium
- Style simple, clavate or 2–3-lobed Ovary inferior, 1–2-celled, ovules solitary and pendulous in the cells
- Fruits
- Fruit a drupe crowned with sepals and disc, 1–2-seeded; seeds albuminous
Images
Accepted Genera
Synonyms
Other Data
Cornaceae Bercht. & J.Presl appears in other Kew resources:
Bibliography
First published in Prir. Rostlin 2(23*): 91, 92. 1825 (1825)
Accepted by
- APG IV (2016) http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/boj.12385
Sources
Flora Zambesiaca
Flora Zambesiaca
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
Flora of Tropical East Africa
Flora of Tropical East Africa
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
Flora of West Tropical Africa
Flora of West Tropical Africa
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0
Kew Names and Taxonomic Backbone
The International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families 2019. Published on the Internet at http://www.ipni.org and http://apps.kew.org/wcsp/
© Copyright 2017 International Plant Names Index and World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0
Neotropikey
Milliken, W., Klitgard, B. and Baracat, A. (2009 onwards), Neotropikey - Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics.
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0