Cardiopterigaceae Blume corr. Van Tiegh.
Alternatively Cardiopterideae (Cardiopteridaceae) Blume, Peripterygiaceae F.N. Williams
Habit and leaf form. Scandent herbs; laticiferous. Climbing; stem twiners. Leaves alternate; spiral; membranous; petiolate; non-sheathing; simple. Lamina dissected, or entire; when dissected, palmatifid; palmately veined; cross-venulate; cordate. Leaves exstipulate; without a persistent basal meristem.
General anatomy. Plants with laticifers. The laticifers in leaves.
Stem anatomy. Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring. Vessel end-walls horizontal; simple.
Reproductive type, pollination. Plants hermaphrodite, or andromonoecious, or gynomonoecious, or androdioecious, or gynodioecious, or polygamomonoecious (? — hermaphrodite or ‘polygamous’).
Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in cymes (more or less scorpioid). The terminal inflorescence unit cymose. Inflorescences axillary; branched, more or less scorpioid cymes. Flowers ebracteate; ebracteolate; very small; regular; (4–)5 merous; cyclic; tetracyclic. Free hypanthium absent. Hypogynous disk absent.
Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; (8–)10; 2 whorled; isomerous. Calyx (4–)5; 1 whorled; gamosepalous; regular; imbricate. Corolla (4–)5; 1 whorled; gamopetalous; imbricate; regular.
Androecium (4–)5. Androecial members adnate (epipetalous); free of one another; 1 whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens (4–)5; inserted midway down the corolla tube, or in the throat of the corolla tube; isomerous with the perianth; oppositisepalous. Anthers dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse. Pollen grains aperturate; 3 aperturate; colporate (colporoidate).
Gynoecium 2 carpelled. The pistil 1 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synovarious; superior. Ovary unilocular; 1 locular. Styles 2; dissimilar, free. Stigmas 2. Placentation apical. Ovules in the single cavity 2; pendulous.
Fruit non-fleshy; indehiscent (flat); a samara (2-winged). Dispersal unit the fruit. Seeds endospermic. Embryo well differentiated (but tiny).
Seedling. Germination phanerocotylar.
Physiology, biochemistry. Aluminium accumulation not found.
Geography, cytology. Temperate to sub-tropical. Southeast Asia and Australia.
Taxonomy. Subclass Dicotyledonae; Tenuinucelli (? — gamopetalous, with adnate androecium). Dahlgren’s Superorder Santaliflorae; Celastrales (?). Cronquist’s Subclass Rosidae; Celastrales. APG (1998) family of uncertain position at the highest group level. Species 3. Genera 1; only genus, Peripterygium (Cardiopteris).
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).