 | The Families of Flowering Plants |  |
~ Amaryllidaceae
Habit and leaf form. Giant rosette herbs. Perennial; with a basal aggregation of leaves; tuberous (and with a short basal stem). Mesophytic, or xerophytic. Leaves large; alternate; spiral; leathery; sessile; sheathing. Leaf sheaths with free margins. Leaves simple. Lamina entire; linear; parallel-veined; without cross-venules. Lamina margins entire.
Leaf anatomy. Stomata present; paracytic.
Lamina dorsiventral. The mesophyll containing calcium oxalate crystals. The mesophyll crystals solitary-prismatic.
Stem anatomy. Secondary thickening absent.
Reproductive type, pollination. Plants hermaphrodite. Floral nectaries present. Nectar secretion from the gynoecium (via septal nectaries). Pollination ornithophilous.
Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’. The terminal inflorescence unit cymose. Inflorescences not scapiflorous (up to 5 m long, with numerous short leaves); terminal; elongate or sometimes globose thyrses, the flowers sometimes substituted by bulbils; with involucral bracts, or without involucral bracts; more or less pseudanthial, or not pseudanthial. Flowers large (10–15 cm long); regular to somewhat irregular; when somewhat irregular, more or less zygomorphic. The floral irregularity involving the perianth, or involving the perianth and involving the androecium. Flowers 3 merous; cyclic; pentacyclic. Perigone tube absent.
Perianth of ‘tepals’; 6; free; 2 whorled; isomerous; petaloid; similar in the two whorls; white, or red (maroon).
Androecium 6. Androecial members free of the perianth; all equal to markedly unequal; free of one another; 2 whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 6; diplostemonous. Anthers (pseudo) basifixed (the apex of the filament enclosed in a tube from the back of the connective); dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse; tetrasporangiate. Microsporogenesis simultaneous. Tapetum glandular. Pollen shed as single grains. Pollen grains aperturate; 1 aperturate; sulcate.
Gynoecium 3 carpelled. Carpels isomerous with the perianth. The pistil 3 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; eu-syncarpous; inferior. Ovary 3 locular. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 2; attenuate from the ovary; apical. Stylar canal present. Placentation parietal. Ovules 5–50 per locule (‘several to many’); non-arillate; anatropous; bitegmic; crassinucellate. Embryo-sac development Polygonum-type. Polar nuclei fusing prior to fertilization. Antipodal cells formed; proliferating (up to 5 cells). Synergids pear-shaped. Hypostase present. Endosperm formation helobial.
Fruit non-fleshy; dehiscent; a capsule. Capsules loculicidal. Seeds endospermic. Endosperm oily. Seeds winged, or wingless. Cotyledons 1. Testa without phytomelan.
Seedling. Seedling collar not conspicuous. Coleoptile absent. Primary root ephemeral.
Physiology, biochemistry. Not cyanogenic. Proanthocyanidins present; cyanidin. Flavonols absent. Ellagic acid absent.
Geography, cytology. Australian. Queensland and New South Wales.
Taxonomy. Subclass Monocotyledonae. Superorder Liliiflorae; Asparagales. APG (1998) Monocot; non-commelinoid; Asparagales. Species 3. Genera 1; only genus, Doryanthes.
This description is offered for casual browsing only. We strongly advise against extracting comparative information from it. This is much more easily achieved using the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting specified attributes, summaries of attributes within groups of taxa, geographical distribution, genera included in each family, classifications (Dahlgren; Dahlgren, Clifford, and Yeo; Cronquist; APG), and notes on the APG classification.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 1992 onwards. The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 29th July 2006. http://delta-intkey.com’.
