Degeneriaceae
- Related Topics:
- Annonaceae
- Magnoliaceae
- Winteraceae
- Myristicaceae
- Himantandraceae
The two species in Degeneriaceae (Degeneria vitiensis and D. roseiflora) are large trees and have primitive vessels, single pollen grains with an elongated aperture and a homogenous (structureless) exine, and sterile stamens (staminodes) between the fertile stamens and the central single carpel. The unusual kidney-shaped fruits of Degeneria measure up to 12 cm (almost 5 inches) long; they split open along one side to reveal orange or red seeds embedded in a pulp. The seeds hang down from the open fruit and are dispersed by birds. The embryos have three or four cotyledons, a most unusual feature.
Eupomatiaceae
Members of Eupomatiaceae are shrubs to small trees. Eupomatia laurina reaches heights of up to 5 metres (16 feet). At the other end of the scale, E. bennettii rarely exceeds 50 cm (20 inches). It often has only one leafy shoot, which produces a single flower each year. The flowers lack a perianth but have petal-like staminodes between the stamens and carpels. The stamens are short with broad flat bases; the carpels are fused along the sides and are enclosed by a cup-shaped receptacle, so that only their receptive stigmatic apexes are exposed to the beetles that pollinate them. The carpels are a modified conduplicate type without a style. The pollen of both species is subspheroidal with a bandlike encircling aperture around the middle of the grain. Each fruit is a globose berry consisting of the fused spirally arranged carpels.
Himantandraceae
Himantandraceae consists of a single genus of large trees, Galbulimima (also known as Himantandra). The vessels of the mature wood have simple perforations (a more advanced feature than in Degeneria). The alternate leaves have their lower surfaces covered with characteristic shield-shaped hairs. Flowers are usually solitary, as in Degeneria, and have two unusual leathery sepals that fall off when the flower opens. There are about 7 to 9 petals; the stamens resemble the petals in shape and texture, and the 4 pollen sacs are restricted to the lowermost part of the stamen, an unusual feature. The 6–10 spirally arranged carpels, with 1 (or, rarely, 2) ovule, fuse to form a globe-shaped, fleshy fruit.
Evolution
Many botanists used to regard Magnoliales as the most primitive extant angiosperm order. A number of structural features were used to support this hypothesis: flowers with numerous spirally arranged free parts on an elongated floral axis; frequently broad stamens (male), with pollen sacs embedded in their surfaces; carpels (female) that may be only slightly modified from a leaflike structure; pollen grains that usually have a single germination groove; and seeds containing a small embryo surrounded by abundant, food-rich endosperm. Molecular evidence, however, has placed other groups as more basal in the angiosperm tree, but the order is nonetheless considered basal among the flowering plants.
Paul E. Berry
