Anemarrhenaceae Conran, M.W. Chase & Rudall
~ Anthericaceae
Habit and leaf form. Herbs. Perennial; with a basal aggregation of leaves; shortly rhizomatous. Leaves alternate; spiral (?); sheathing; with ‘normal’ orientation; simple. Lamina entire; linear; parallel-veined; without cross-venules (?). Lamina margins entire. Leaves with a persistent basal meristem, and basipetal development (?).
Leaf anatomy. Lamina dorsiventral.
Stem anatomy. Secondary thickening absent.
Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers hermaphrodite. Plants hermaphrodite (with the supposedly dioecious Terauchia representing a smut-induced monstrosity).
Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in panicles (these condensed, spicate). Inflorescences not scapiflorous; terminal; terminal, erect, pedunculate, leafy, spicate condensed panicles. Flowers regular; 3 merous; tetracyclic. Perigone tube present (the tepals connivent into a short tube).
Perianth of ‘tepals’; 6; free (above the tube); 2 whorled; isomerous; sepaloid to petaloid (?); similar in the two whorls; green to white, or purple, or brown (with brownish veins); persistent; non-accrescent.
Androecium 3. Androecial members adnate (to the inner or outer tepals); all equal; free of one another; 1 whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 3; isomerous with the perianth; alterniperianthial, or oppositiperianthial (?); filantherous (the filaments short and flat). Anthers basifixed (linear); non-versatile; dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse. Microsporogenesis successive.
Gynoecium 3 carpelled. Carpels isomerous with the perianth. The pistil 3 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; eu-syncarpous; superior. Ovary 3 locular. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 1; apical. Stigmas 1; capitate (small). Placentation axile. Ovules 2 per locule; anatropous.
Fruit non-fleshy; dehiscent; a capsule. Capsules loculicidal. Dispersal unit the seed. Fruit 3–6 seeded. Seeds endospermic (endosperm fleshy); fusiform-triangular. Seeds without starch. Cotyledons 2. Embryo cylindric. Testa encrusted with phytomelan; black.
Seedling. Hypocotyl internode absent. Cotyledon hyperphyll elongated; more or less circular in t.s. Coleoptile absent.
Geography, cytology. Holarctic, or Paleotropical. North China.
Taxonomy. Subclass Monocotyledonae. Superorder Liliiflorae; Asparagales. Species 1. Genera 1; Anemarrhena only.
Conran et al. (1997): description insufficiently detailed, and inadequately cross-referenced with Anthericaceae.
Economic uses, etc. Cultivated ornamental.
Cite this publication as: ‘L. Watson and M. J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The Families of Flowering Plants: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, and Information Retrieval. Version: 14th December 2000. http://biodiversity.uno.edu/delta/’. Dallwitz (1980), Dallwitz, Paine and Zurcher (1993, 1995, 2000), and Watson and Dallwitz (1991) should also be cited (see References).