Overview
Trees, shrubs, or woody vines. Leaves alternate, simple, shortly or long petiolate, not stipulate.Flowers bisexual or unisexual or plants polygamous or functionally dioecious, usually fascicled, cymose, or paniculate. Sepals (2 or 3 or) 5, imbricate, rarely valvate. Petals (4 or) 5, sometimes more, imbricate. Stamens 10 to numerous, distinct or adnate to base of petals, hypogynous; anthers 2-celled, versatile, dehiscing by apical pores or longitudinally. Ovary superior, disk absent, locules and carpels 3-5 or more; placentation axile; ovules anatropous with a single integument, 10 or more per locule; styles as many as carpels, distinct or connate (then only one style), generally persistent. Fruit a berry or leathery capsule. Seeds not arillate, with usually large embryos and abundant endosperm.
Three genera and ca. 357 species: Asia and the Americas; three genera (one endemic) and 66 species (52 endemic) in China.
Economically, kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa) is an important fruit, which originated in central China and is especially common along the Yangtze River (well known as yang-tao) . Now, it is widely cultivated throughout the world.[1]
Photos
Taxonomy
The Family Actinidiaceae is further organized into finer groupings including:
- Subfamily (11): Actinidioideae · Bombinae · Caryophylloideae · Nepetoideae · Polygonoideae · Ranunculoideae · Rhododendroideae · Saurauioideae · Trollioideae · Ulmoideae · Violoideae
- Tribe (9): Anemoneae · Bombini · Cimicifugeae · Irideae · Rhododendreae · Rumicieae · Salvieae · Sileneae · Violeae
- Genus (21): Actinidia · Apatelia · Blumia · Clematoclethra · Draytonia · Kalomikta · Kolomikta · Leucothea · Marumia · Obelanthera · Palaua · Parasaurauia · Reinwardtia · Saurauia · Saurauria · Scapha · Suarauia · Tonshia · Trematanthera · Trochostigma · Vanalphimia
- Species: ZipcodeZoo has pages for 849 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in the Family Actinidiaceae.
Genera
Actinidia
Climbing shrubs, glabrous or hairy, indumentum of stellate or simple hairs; pith solid or lamellate. Branches usually with linear, lengthwise lenticels; winter buds small, enclosed in swollen base of petiole or exposed. Leaves often long petiolate; stipules minute, obsolete, or absent; leaf blade membranous, papery, or leathery, venation penniveined, veinlets reticulate, usually in cross-bars, margin serrate or dentate, rarely entire. Inflorescences cymose, axillary, often pseudo-umbellate, few- or many flowered, or flowers solitary; bracts present, minute. Flowers white, pink, red, yellow, or green, bisexual, plants polygamous or functionally dioecious. Sepals (2-) 5(or 6), distinct or connate at base, imbricate, rarely valvate, persistent or not. Petals (4 or) 5(or more than 5), imbricate. Stamens numerous, in functionally female flowers often with shorter filaments and smaller sterile anthers; filaments slender; anthers yellow, brown, purple, or black, versatile, attached at middle, 2-celled, dehiscing lengthwise, usually divaricate at base. Disk absent. Ovary ovoid, cylindrical, or bottle-shaped, glabrous or hairy, many loculed; ovules numerous per locule; styles as many as carpels (15-30), usually reflexed, persistent, radiating, in functionally female flower elongating after anthesis; rudimentary ovary in functionally male flower very small, with minute styles. Fruit a berry, globose, ovoid, or oblong, spotted with lenticels or not, glabrous or hairy. Seeds numerous, oblong, small, immersed in pulp; testa cartilaginous, reticulate-pitted; albumen copious and abundant; embryo comparatively large, cylindrical, straight, at center of albumen; cotyledons short.[2] [more]
Apatelia
Blumia
Clematoclethra
Woody vines, deciduous. Branchlets glabrous, puberulent, tomentose, lanate, or setose. Bud scales laminated, blackish brown, leathery, hairy or not, always persistent at bases of young shoots. Leaves petiolate, leathery to papery, margin entire or finely bristle-toothed or callus-toothed. Flowers solitary or on cymose inflorescences, bisexual. Sepals 5, imbricate, connate at base, persistent. Petals 5, imbricate. Stamens 10; filaments short, stout, dilated toward base; anthers ovoid, versatile, 2-celled, dehiscing through 2 longitudinal slits, inverted due to inflexion of filaments after anthesis, their morphological bases apical when mature. Ovary globose, glabrous, 5-ribbed, 5-loculed; ovules 8-10 per locule; styles connate into a cylindrical to filiform, somewhat fleshy, sometimes 5-striate structure; stigma capitate, small, 5-lobuled. Fruit berrylike or a leathery capsule, 5-ribbed when dry, with 1 seed per carpel, apex with persistent style. Seeds obtriangular, smooth, with endosperm. [3] [more]
Draytonia
Kalomikta
Kolomikta
Leucothea
In , Leucothea (Greek: Leukothea (?e?????a), English translation: "white goddess") was one of the aspects under which an ancient sea goddess was recognized. Mythic themes agree that she was a transformed nymph. [more]
Marumia
Obelanthera
Palaua
Palaua is a genus of in the Euconulidae family. It contains the following species: [more]
Parasaurauia
Reinwardtia
Saurauia
Trees or shrubs. Branchlets usually with unguiculate hairs or subulate scales. Leaves petiolate; petiole scaly or not, rarely long setose; leaf blade tomentose or not abaxially, veins with scales or stiff hairs, numerous lateral veins diverging parallel to midvein, margin serrate. Inflorescences thyrsoid, paniclelike, composed of terminal cymes, solitary or fasciculate, usually scaly, tomentose or glabrous. Pedicels 2-bracteate. Flowers hermaphroditic or plants functionally dioecious. Sepals 5, strongly imbricate. Petals 5, imbricate, usually connate at base. Stamens 15-130; filaments adnate to base of petals; anthers obtrigonal, dorsifixed, dehiscing longitudinally or poricidally. Ovary 3-5-loculed, with many ovules per locule; styles 3-5, connate below middle, rarely free; stigma simple to discoid. Fruit baccate, white to pale green, rarely red, globose or depressed-globose, usually ribbed. Seeds brown, minute, areolate.[4] [more]
Saurauria
Scapha
Suarauia
Tonshia
Trematanthera
Trochostigma
Vanalphimia
More info about the Genus Vanalphimia may be found here.
Bibliography
- Liang Chou-fen, Chen Yong-chang & Wang Yu-sheng. 1984. Actinidiaceae (excluding Sladenia). In: Feng Kuo-mei, ed., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 49(2): 195-301, 309-334.
- X. W. Li, J. Q. Li, and D. D. Soejarto (Acta Phytotax. Sin. 45: 633-660. 2007).
Footnotes
- Jianqiang Li, Li Xinwei & D. Doel Soejarto "Actinidiaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 12 Page 334,364. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.
- "Actinidia". in Flora of China Vol. 12 Page 334. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.
- "Clematoclethra". in Flora of China Vol. 12 Page 334, 355. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.
- "Saurauia". in Flora of China Vol. 12 Page 334, 356. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.
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