Hanguanaceae Airy Shaw
Habit and leaf form. Somewhat grasslike herbs; non-laticiferous and without coloured juice. Perennial; with a basal aggregation of leaves; rhizomatous. Helophytic, or mesophytic. Leaves alternate; spiral; petiolate; sheathing; simple. Lamina entire; linear, or lanceolate; pinnately veined (pinnate-parallel); cross-venulate (with many cross-nervules). Lamina margins entire. Vernation convolute.
General anatomy. Plants with silica bodies (in the endodermis, abaxial hypodermis and mesophyll).
Leaf anatomy. Epidermis without silica bodies. Stomata present; tetracytic.
Vessels absent.
Stem anatomy. Primary vascular tissue in scattered bundles. Secondary thickening absent. Xylem without vessels.
Root anatomy. Root xylem with vessels. Vessel end-walls scalariform.
Reproductive type, pollination. Plants dioecious. Female flowers with staminodes (six, 3 + 3). Gynoecium of male flowers pistillodial.
Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in panicles. Inflorescences terminal; much branched, bracteate panicles. Flowers ebracteate; ebracteolate; small; regular; 3 merous; cyclic. Perigone tube present (short). Hypogynous disk absent (the male axis terminating in a conspicuous cluster of fleshy bodies).
Perianth of ‘tepals’ (the members small, rounded); 6; joined; 2 whorled; isomerous; petaloid; similar in the two whorls to different in the two whorls (the outer members smaller); pale.
Androecium 6. Androecial members adnate (to the base of the perianth); all equal; free of one another; 2 whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 6; diplostemonous. Anthers basifixed; dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse; tetrasporangiate. Pollen grains nonaperturate; spinulose.
Gynoecium 3 carpelled. Carpels isomerous with the perianth. The pistil 3 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; eu-syncarpous; superior. Ovary 3 locular. Gynoecium non-stylate. Stigmas 1; broad, triangular. Placentation axile. Ovules 1 per locule; pendulous; orthotropous to hemianatropous.
Fruit fleshy; indehiscent; a drupe; 1–3 seeded. Seeds endospermic; bowl-shaped. Testa without phytomelan.
Physiology, biochemistry. Proanthocyanidins present; cyanidin and delphinidin. Flavonols absent.
Geography, cytology. Paleotropical and Australian. Tropical. Ceylon, eastern Asia and Australia.
Taxonomy. Subclass Monocotyledonae. Superorder Liliiflorae; Asparagales (?). APG (1998) Monocot; Commelinoid group; unassigned at ordinal level. Species 2. Genera 1; only genus, Hanguana.
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).