Endocarps of menispermaceous plants in Taiwan

Botanical Studies, Jul 2016

Background The fruits of the family Menispermaceae are drupes, and because the drupe endocarps are morphologically diverse, they are generally used to classify members of this family. There is a lack of detailed knowledge of Menispermaceae endocarps in Taiwan. Therefore, in this study, the endocarps of seven genera and 14 species were dissected, and their morphological characters were photographed and described. Furthermore, a key for the 14 species based on the endocarps features, as well as a key of the studied genera, is proposed. Results The endocarp types comprise a straight shape in Tinospora dentata Diels and a horseshoe shape in the other 13 species. In general, the genus Cyclea bears two dorsal crests with 16 small spines, although there are about 25 spines in Cyclea insularis (Makino) Hatusima. The genus Cocculus has a dorsal convex endocarp with a subannular. In Taiwan, the endocarp of Sinomenium acutum (Thunb.) Rehder & E. H. Wilson has up to 26 transverse ridges, without spines on the crest and might be categorized under the genus Menispermum. Transverse endocarp ridges are found in Stephania cephalantha Hayata and Stephania tetrandra S. Moore, whereas transverse endocarp strips are found in Stephania japonica (Thunb.) Miers, Stephania longa Lour. and Stephania merrillii Diels. Conclusion We believe that the descriptions and photographs of the endocarp traits of T. dentata, which is endemic to Taiwan, will provide more evidence for further studies on extant and fossil species.

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Endocarps of menispermaceous plants in Taiwan

Yang and Chen Bot Stud Endocarps of?menispermaceous plants in?Taiwan Sheng?Zehn Yang 0 Po?Hao Chen 0 0 National Pingtung University of Science and Technology , No. 1, Shuefu Rd., Neipu, Pingtung 912 , Taiwan Background: The fruits of the family Menispermaceae are drupes, and because the drupe endocarps are morphologically diverse, they are generally used to classify members of this family. There is a lack of detailed knowledge of Menispermaceae endocarps in Taiwan. Therefore, in this study, the endocarps of seven genera and 14 species were dissected, and their morphological characters were photographed and described. Furthermore, a key for the 14 species based on the endocarps features, as well as a key of the studied genera, is proposed. Results: The endocarp types comprise a straight shape in Tinospora dentata Diels and a horseshoe shape in the other 13 species. In general, the genus Cyclea bears two dorsal crests with 16 small spines, although there are about 25 spines in Cyclea insularis (Makino) Hatusima. The genus Cocculus has a dorsal convex endocarp with a subannular. In Taiwan, the endocarp of Sinomenium acutum (Thunb.) Rehder & E. H. Wilson has up to 26 transverse ridges, without spines on the crest and might be categorized under the genus Menispermum. Transverse endocarp ridges are found in Stephania cephalantha Hayata and Stephania tetrandra S. Moore, whereas transverse endocarp strips are found in Stephania japonica (Thunb.) Miers, Stephania longa Lour. and Stephania merrillii Diels. Conclusion: We believe that the descriptions and photographs of the endocarp traits of T. dentata, which is endemic to Taiwan, will provide more evidence for further studies on extant and fossil species. Condyle; Classification; Dioecious climbing plants; Mesocarp; Moonseed family Background The Menispermaceae is a diverse family of mostly dioecious climbing plants, consisting of a few tree species, but mostly shrubs, and herbs. There are 72 genera and 520 species in this family (Jacques et? al. 2011; Wang et? al. 2012) , and the most speciose genera include Cissampelos L. (20?30 spp.), Cyclea Arn. ex Wight (30 spp.), Stephania Lour. (30?60 spp.), and Tinospora Miers (25?35 spp.) (Wefferling et? al. 2013). Most members of this family are distributed throughout the tropics, although some are found in temperate regions. Their endocarps appear often in fossil records, and they indicate the presence of a wet forest ecosystem (Herrera et?al. 2011) . About 116 species in this family were surveyed for their endocarp traits by Jacques (2009) . Menispermaceae leaves are typically simple, with a palmatinerved venation, although a few genera have a pinnate venation. Their leaves are subpeltate, with a few taxa?s leaves being strongly peltate, with pulvinate petioles at both ends. Menispermaceae inflorescences and infructescences are mostly determinate; axillary, or borne on defoliate branches or old wood, rarely terminal; solitary or fasciculate; occur most often in racemes, cymes, or thyrses, sometimes in panicles or cymose heads, rarely reduced to solitary flowers (Wefferling et?al. 2013) . Flowers are unisexual, inconspicuous, trimerous, and actinomorphic; a few genera have pistillate, zygomorphic flowers; carpels are free, usually range between three and six in number, whereas the zygomorphic genera only have a single carpel; stamens are mainly free, but some genera form a synandrium (Ortiz et? al. 2007) . Fruits are produced aggregates of 3 or 6, single-seeded, and sometimes stipitate drupes. They usually consist of a fleshy or fibrous mesocarp, and a bony, woody, coriaceous, chartaceous or papyraceous endocarp. The dorsal portion of the fruit in this family is mostly convex. Otherwise, it grows in a gibbous manner that curves the fruit into a horseshoe or crescent-shape, with the style scar becoming basal or sub-basal, appearing in mature fruit close to the pedicel. Otherwise, if the fruit is not curved, the style scar may be apical. Many endocarp characters vary within the family, such as endocarp type, limb length, condyle shape, convex or concave dorsal face, chambers, vascular trace, aperture, and perforation. Because this family is mainly defined by the curved seed found in many of the genera, it is also known as the moonseed family. Menispermaceae endocarps vary widely in their ornamentation, which provides important taxonomic characters for distinguishing between and within the genera. Six genera and 13 taxa (including one variety) of this family have been identified in the Flora of Taiwan (Huang and Huang 1996) , but exhaustive information on Menispermaceae endocarps is still lacking. This lack of data is addressed in this study, using their diverse endocarp ornamentation, by (1) carefully revising the various endocarp descriptors and providing detailed photographs of the discussed features, (2) developing a key based on endocarp morphological characters to identify the Menispermaceae genera (...truncated)


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Sheng-Zehn Yang, Po-Hao Chen. Endocarps of menispermaceous plants in Taiwan, Botanical Studies, 2016, pp. 14, Volume 57, Issue 1, DOI: 10.1186/s40529-016-0129-7