Cervantesiaceae Nickrent & Der

Family Description

Distribution Map

List of Genera

Photographs

Acanthosyris

1. Acanthosyris annonagustata
   • Habit of plant in fruit. Eastern Ecuador. Web page at Missouri Botanical Garden where Ulloa and Jørgensen describe this new taxon. Photo by V. Persson, N. Garwood & G. Villa.
   • Fruit cut lengthwise. Fruit and nut. Photo by V. Persson, N. Garwood & G. Villa.
2. Acanthosyris asipapote
   • Flowers from the type specimen (Vargas 3234). Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Photo by M. Nee.
   • Leaves and fruits. Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Photo by M. Nee.
   • Sectioned fruits. Santa Cruz, Bolivia. Photo by M. Nee.
3. Acanthosyris falcata
   • Plant with fruits. Bolivia. Photo by A. Gentry (No. 75283). Link goes to TROPICOS.
   • Fruiting shoot.  Paraguay. Photo by Lidia Perez de Molas (No. 8848). Link goes to TROPICOS.
4. Acanthosyris glabrata.
   • Plant with flowers, Ecuador. Photo by A. Gentry (No. 72366). Link goes to TROPICOS.
   • Fruiting shoot in hand.  Ecuador.  Photo by C. Bonifaz.  Link goes to TROPICOS.
5. Acanthosyris spinescens
   • Close-up view1 and view2 of flowers. Florida: Río Viejo, Uruguay. Photo by Mauricio Bonifacino.
   • Plant in fruit. Called "granaditas" or "quebrachillos." Plants of the Chaco Orientale, Paraguay. Photo by Juan Antonio Alberto.
   • Series of photos of this species.  Link goes to Flora Digital RS, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Cervantesia

1. Cervantesia tomentosa
   • Plant with fruits. Colombia. Photo by A. Gentry (No. 65359). Link goes to TROPICOS.
   • Series of photos showing flowers and fruits. Ecuador, Loja. Voucher (No. 2283) and photographs by Jørgensen, Ulloa, Caranqui and Sánchez. Link goes to TROPICOS.
   • Photos.  Pichincha, Ecuador.  Photos 31 May 2011 by C. Davidson.  Link goes to Flora of the World.
   • Illustration (as Cervantesia kunthiana), by J. Miers (1880). Link goes to www.plantillustrations.org
     

Jodina

1. Jodina rhombifolia
   • Habit of plant, flowering shoot, close-up of flowers. Photos by L. J. Musselman.
   • Close-up of open flower, fruit, bark. Maldonado, Route 81, Uruguay.  Photo by M. Bonifacino.
   • Flowers.  Mendoza, M. 3261 - Bolivia: Comarapa. Link goes to Neotropical Plants image database at Kew.
   • Fruit, closer view. This is the stage where the fruit is attractive to seed dispersing birds. Planted tree in Parque Saavedra, La Plata, Buenos Aires province, Argentina. Photo taken October (spring) 2005 by Gabriela Ruellan.
   • Series of photos of this species.  Link goes to Flora Digital RS, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Okoubaka

1. Okoubaka aubrevillei
   • Habit of the plant. It's hard to believe that this large (up to 40 m tall) tree is actually a root parasite! But indeed the hemiparasitic nature of this species has been documented (see Veenendaal et al., 1996, New Phytol. 134:487-493 and Swaine & Hall, 1986 listed therein). Atewa Range Forest Reserves, Ghana. Photo. 1977 by M.D. Swaine.
   • Aspect of entire tree showing abundant epiphytes. It is from this tree that haustoria were first recorded for the species. Atewa Range Forest Reserves, Ghana. Photo. 1977 by M.D. Swaine.
   • Seed with millimeter scale above. The dry mass of the nut (seed plus bony mesocarp) averages 43 g, the largest reported for a hemiparasitic plant. Atewa Range Forest Reserves, Ghana. Photo 1977 by M. D. Swaine.
   • Herbarium specimen, showing inflorescence, Missouri Botanical Gardens (MO).
   • Photos. Vegetative parts of the plant. Link goes to West African Plants: A Photo Guide.
   • Links to English translations of papers on Okoubaka: Halle (1987), Leonard and Troupin (1950), Louis and Leonard (1948), and Stauffer (1957).
     

Pilgerina

1. Pilgerina madagascariensis
   
   • Habit of the plant. Toliara, Mandena Forestry Reserve. Rogers et al. 890, type collection. Photo by Zach Rogers.
   • Inflorescence in hand. Toliara, Mandena Forestry Reserve. Rogers et al. 890, type collection. Photo by Zach Rogers.
   • Inflorescence showing closer view of flowers. Madagascar, Toliara, Mandena Forestry Reserve. Rogers et al. 890, type collection. Photo by Zach Rogers.
   • Fruiting branch. Toliara, Sainte Luce Forestry Reserve. Rogers et al. 967. Photo by Zach Rogers.
   • Fruits in section, photo 1, photo 2. Madagascar, Toliara, Sainte Luce Forestry Reserve. Rogers et al. 976. Photos by Zach Rogers.
   • For detailed drawings of the plant, see Rogers et al. (2008), pdf file HERE.
   • Photos.  Link goes to Flora of the World.

Pyrularia

1. Pyrularia edulis
   • Photos. Plants in fruit. Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. Photo by Zhang J. L. Link goes to PlantPhotoBank.cn.
   • Line drawing of this Chinese species from Flora of China. Web page HERE.
2. Pyrularia pubera
   
   • Fraser fir tree parasitized by Pyrularia in a Christmas tree plantation. West Virginia, USA. Photo by L. J. Musselman.
   • Haustoria, connected to host root (Abies fraseri, Fraser fir). West Virginia, USA. Photo by L. J. Musselman.
   • Habit of plant with male inflorescence. West Virginia, USA. Photo by L. J. Musselman.
   • Close-up of a possibly bisexual flower. Virginia, USA. [DLN 2737]. Photo by Ken Robertson.
   • Plant with inflorescences. From Flora of Southwest Virginia. © Craig Van Boskirk. Web page HERE.
   • Inflorescence and close-up of inflorescence, from Flora of Southwest Virginia. © Craig Van Boskirk.
   • Flowers, dissected. Virginia, USA. [DLN 2737]. Photo by Ken Robertson.
   • Fruits. Photo by Dan Busemeyer, Illinois Natural History Survey.
   • Fruiting branch removed. The fruits are said to have an acrid, poisonous oil. The seed contains large proportions of acetylenic fatty acids, much like the genus Acanthosyris (Hopkins et al. 1968). West Virginia, USA. Photo by L. J. Musselman.
   • Apex of immature fruit with perianth bumps. West Virginia, USA. Photo by L. J. Musselman.
   • Immature fruit in cross section (left) and nut exposed (right). Photo by L. J. Musselman.
   • Fruit intact and at bottom dehisced with nut above. South Carolina, USA. Photo by L. J. Musselman.
   • Fruit with exocarp opening revealing the spongy mesocarp and nut (stony endocarp which contains the seed). Photo by Bruce Roberts (from Flickr).
   • Excellent photos of this species in North Carolina on the Carolina Nature page by Charles Wilson (Will) Cook, Duke University.
   • More excellent photos. Link goes to the Southern Flora web site.
   • Photos Plant in flower. Link goes to Flora of the World.
     

Scleropyrum

1. Scleropyrum maingayai
   
   • Inflorescence and closer view of flowers.  Photos by R. A. Howard (see Plant Image Collection, Smithsonian Inst.)
2. Scleropyrum pentandrum (syn. S. wallichianum)
   • Photos. Shoots with inflorescences, infructescence. near Kumta, Karnataka, India. Photos by Dinesh Valke and Prashant Awale. Link goes to Flowers of India.
   • Series of photos.  Bark, leaves, young inflorescences.  Link goes to BIOTIK in Laos.
   • Series of photos.  Bark, leaves, spines, fruits.  Link goes to BIOTIK in India.
   • Series of photos. Flowers, fruits, etc. Link goes to the Digital Flora of Karnataka (Indian Institute of Science).
     
   • Trunk of the tree showing the characteristic spines. Singapore. Photo by Joseph Lai. Visit his website HERE.
   • Branches with young male inflorescences. From Flora of Western Ghats, India. Photo by K. A. Subramanian, Centre for Ecological Sciences, IISc, Bangalore.
   • Male inflorescences. Good photo by Vinayaraj. Link goes to Wikipedia.
   • Young male inflorescence and open flower. Thailand. Photo taken by Somran Suddee and provided by J. Macklin.
   • Fruits. Excellent photo by Dinesh Valke. Link goes to Flickr.
     

A NOTE ABOUT SCLEROPYRUM PENTANDRUM. I was informed by Boonying Tubtim, faculty of pharmacy at Chiang Mai University in Thailand, that there are reports of people who died from eating this plant, mistakenly thinking it was Melientha suavis (Opiliaceae).  Jill Macklin provided information she gleaned from herbarium labels that the flowers of S. aurantiacum are eaten in New Guinea, so the toxic components may not be present in all species of Scleropyrum.

Staufferia

1. Staufferia capuronii
   
   • Fruiting branch, immature fruit. Madagascar, Antsiranana Province, Anivorano Nord. Ratovoson et al. 877. Photo by Fidisoa Ratovoson.
   • Fruiting branch, closer view.  Madagascar, Antsiranana Province, Ambilobe. Callmander et al. 317. Photo by Martin Callmander.
   • For detailed drawings of the plant, see Rogers et al. (2008), pdf file HERE.

Phylogeny & Classification

• For a molecular phylogeny of "Santalaceae" in the broad sense, see Der and Nickrent (2008): HERE.
• For a reclassification of Santalales, including family names for all the clades, see Nickrent et al. (2010): HERE.
• For a comparison of "Santalaceae" classifications, past and present, go HERE.
• The genera Pilgerina and Staufferia in Rogers et al. (2008) can be seen HERE.

References