Petermanniaceae Hutch.
~ Philesiaceae p.p.
Habit and leaf form. Lianas (with prickly stems). Rhizomatous. Climbing; stem twiners and tendril climbers (the tendrils derived from inflorescences). Mesophytic. Leaves alternate; spiral; petiolate to subsessile; non-sheathing; simple. Lamina entire; oblong; pinnately veined (pinnate-parallel); cross-venulate. Leaves exstipulate. Lamina margins entire.
Leaf anatomy. Stomata present; anomocytic.
The mesophyll containing calcium oxalate crystals. The mesophyll crystals raphides. Vessels absent.
Stem anatomy. Secondary thickening absent. Xylem with vessels, or without vessels. Vessel end-walls scalariform.
Root anatomy. Root xylem with vessels. Vessel end-walls scalariform.
Reproductive type, pollination. Unisexual flowers absent. Plants hermaphrodite. Floral nectaries present, or absent (? — no septal nectaries).
Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in panicles. The terminal inflorescence unit cymose. Inflorescences leaf-opposed; raceme-like, paniculate. Flowers regular; 2 merous; cyclic; pentacyclic. Perigone tube absent.
Perianth of ‘tepals’; 6; free; 2 whorled; isomerous; sepaloid, or petaloid (?); similar in the two whorls.
Androecium 6. Androecial members free of the perianth; free of one another; 2 whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 6; diplostemonous. Anthers dehiscing via longitudinal slits; extrorse; tetrasporangiate. Pollen shed as single grains. Pollen grains aperturate; 1 aperturate; sulcate.
Gynoecium 3 carpelled. Carpels isomerous with the perianth. The pistil 1 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; eu-syncarpous; inferior. Ovary 1 locular. Gynoecium stylate. Styles 1. Stigmas 1; capitate. Placentation parietal. Ovules in the single cavity 15–50 (‘fairly numerous’).
Fruit fleshy; indehiscent; a berry; 15–100 seeded (‘many’ seeded). Seeds endospermic. Testa without phytomelan (?).
Geography, cytology. Australian. Sub-tropical to tropical. Eastern Australia.
Taxonomy. Subclass Monocotyledonae. Superorder Liliiflorae; Dioscoreales. APG (1998) Monocot; non-commelinoid; Liliales (as a synonym of Colchicaceae). Species 1. Genera 1; only genus, Petermannia.
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).