Eucryphiaceae Endl.
Habit and leaf form. Trees and shrubs. Mesophytic. Leaves evergreen; opposite; leathery; petiolate; simple, or compound; when compound pinnate, or ternate. Lamina when simple dissected, or entire; pinnately veined; cross-venulate. Leaves stipulate. Stipules interpetiolar; caducous. Leaves without a persistent basal meristem.
Leaf anatomy. Stomata present; mainly confined to one surface (abaxial); paracytic.
Lamina dorsiventral; without secretory cavities. Minor leaf veins without phloem transfer cells.
Stem anatomy. Cork cambium present; initially superficial. Nodes tri-lacunar. Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring. Xylem with vessels. Vessel end-walls scalariform, or scalariform and simple. Vessels without vestured pits. Wood parenchyma apotracheal (diffuse). Sieve-tube plastids P-type; type I (b).
Reproductive type, pollination. Plants hermaphrodite. Entomophilous.
Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers solitary; axillary; ebracteolate; large; calyptrate; regular; partially acyclic. The androecium acyclic. Floral receptacle developing an androphore. Free hypanthium absent. Hypogynous disk present.
Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 8(–10); 2 whorled; isomerous. Calyx 4 (rarely 5); 1 whorled; polysepalous (basally), or gamosepalous (in the sense of cohering apically); regular; not persistent (the members apically cohering); calyptrate; imbricate (leathery). Corolla 4 (rarely 5); 1 whorled; polypetalous; imbricate; regular; white.
Androecium 20–100 (i.e. ‘many’). Androecial members branched (originating from a limited number of ‘trunk bundles’ on the receptacle); maturing centripetally; free of the perianth; all equal; free of one another; ‘multiseriate’. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 20–100; polystemonous. Anthers dorsifixed (orbicular); versatile; dehiscing via longitudinal slits; latrorse. Pollen grains aperturate; 2 aperturate; (syn) colpate.
Gynoecium 4–14(–18) carpelled. The pistil 4–14(–18) celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synovarious to synstylovarious; superior. Ovary 4–14(–18) locular. Styles 4–14(–18); free to partially joined; apical. Stigmas dry type; non-papillate; Group II type. Placentation axile. Ovules 15–50 per locule (i.e. ‘many’, biseriate in each loculus); pendulous; non-arillate; anatropous; bitegmic; crassinucellate.
Fruit non-fleshy (woody or leathery); dehiscent; a capsule. Capsules septicidal and valvular. Seeds copiously endospermic; winged. Embryo well differentiated. Cotyledons 2 (leafy).
Seedling. Germination phanerocotylar.
Physiology, biochemistry. Not cyanogenic. Iridoids not detected. Proanthocyanidins present; cyanidin. Flavonols absent. Ellagic acid absent. Aluminium accumulation not found.
Geography, cytology. Temperate. Chile and Southeast Australia. X = 15, 16.
Taxonomy. Subclass Dicotyledonae; Crassinucelli. Dahlgren’s Superorder Rosiflorae; Cunoniales. Cronquist’s Subclass Rosidae; Rosales. APG (1998) Eudicot; core Eudicot; Rosid; Eurosid I; Oxalidales (as a synonym of Cunoniaceae). Species 5. Genera 1; only genus, Eucryphia.
Illustrations. • Eucryphia spp..
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).
