Class: | angiosperms |
Order: | Fabales |
Family: | Polygalaceae |
Editor | Rilke S. & Starke S., August 2014 |
Name acc. to: | APGII |
Herbar: | list records |
Description: | Herbs, 10-30 cm high. Flowers papilionaceous, sepals 5, coloured: 3 small sepals, 2 large petal-like sepals formed wings and enclose the smaller corolla, petals 3 (with fimbriate keel-like uppermost petal and 2 small wing-like petals at keel sides), stamens 8. Capsule compressed, winged. |
Confuse with: | Fabaceae |
Comments: | The flower morphology is difficult to assess because corolla is enclosed in 2 large coloured sepals. Flowers resemble those of Fabaceae. |
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| genus: 1 |
| species: 3 |
Habit (i)general appearance of a plant | |
Growth form: (i)Herb, shrub, tree or climber. | herb (i)Herbaceous, erect plant, up to 2m high, mostly with a leafy shoot; if perennial, shoots die to the ground each season, shoots are not woody example: Artemisia pectinata
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Parasite status: (i)Is the plant a half- or full parasite? | no parasite/saprophyte (i)Plant fully autonomous, leaves with chlorophyll example: Most plants, Ranunculus
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Water or terrestrial plant: (i)Where do the plants grow? | terrestrial (i)Plant grows on dry land example: Orostachys spinosa
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Leaf (i)expanded, usually photosynthetic organ of a plant (including phylloclades) | |
Leaf development: (i)Structure and development of leaves. | with green leaves (i)Plant with green leaves
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Simple or divided leaves: (i)Are the leaves simple or completely divided in several parts? Blade of the leaf entire or (more or less) deeply dissected. Attention: There are various appearances of the leaf margin (from entire to toothed and lobed). Here, we ignore this and ask only for dissections that separate the leaf for more than one third of its length or width, whatever is smaller. Sometimes, it is difficult to tell apart compound leaves from a shoot system with simple leaves: look for stipulae and/or axillary buds at the ground of the leaves: if only some possess these structures, the others are most likely leaflets of a compound leaf. | simple (i)Non-divided leaf, but margin may be incised nearly to the ground
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Leaf margin: (i)Structure of leaf margin (or that of a leaflet in case of compound leaves). Attention: Here we ask for the leaf margin, defined as all those dissections that separate the leaf for less than one third of its length or width, whatever is smaller. To be worked out: how to handle margin of pinnate leaves? | entire (i)Plain margin, not toothed example: Iris
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Stipule: (i)Leaflets at the base of the petiole, these are smaller and of different shape. | none (i)Without stipules example: Euphorbia, Ericaceae s.l.
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Leaf veination: (i)Arrangement of the main veins of a leaf. | pinnate (i)One main vein, several side veins, sometimes inconspicuous example: Cicerbita
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Flower (i)reproductive portion of the plant, consisting of sepals, petals, stamens, and pistils | |
Flower appearance and pollination: (i)General appearance of the flower. | attractive, animal-pollinated (i)attractive and coloured flowers, mostly large, attracting surely animals example: Trollius, Rosa, Chamaerhodos
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Flower colour: (i)Attention: assess colour of the most colourful parts of the flower, but not of the stamens; be aware of single plants with a mutation (mostly white) on flower colour. | purple to violet (i)All colors between purple and violet, often changing with flower age example: Pulmonaria
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Perianth arrangement: (i)Attention: in some plants, flowers may be dimorphic in different ways (dioecious or gynodioecious). If flowers vary, record the characters of the most showy flowers. | double, different (i)Two types of perianth leaves, differently coloured (sepals: outer periant leaves, usually greenish, and petals: inner perianth leaves, usually coloured) example: Parnassia
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Flower symmetry: (i)Symmetry of the perianth leaves. Attention: to assess this character, look on sepals, petals and stamens, but neglect carpels and ovary. | zygomorphic (i)One axis of symmetry, monosymmetrical flowers example: Pedicularis, Nepeta, Viola
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Flower form: (i)common forms of flowers ? Veronica | papilionaceous (i)Butterfly-like flower is structured: standard, 2 wings and keel example: Most Fabaceae (Astragalus), Polygala
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Sepal number: (i)Number of sepal leaves (outer perianth leaves, calyx leaves, mostly greenish). Attention, this character applies only for flowers separated in sepals and petals, thus excluding most monocots. Be aware of the bracts (involucral leaves) of Asteraceae flowerheads, do not qualify these as sepals! Be also aware in Rosaceae is often an epicalyx developed, in this case count all parts. | 5 (i) example: Polemonium
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Sepal fusion: (i)To which degree are the sepal leaves connected? Attention, this character applies only for flowers separated in sepals and petals, thus excluding most monocots. Be aware of the bracts (involucral leaves) of Asteraceae flowerheads, do not qualify these as sepals! | free (i)All leaves separate from each other example: Geranium
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Petal / Tepal number: (i)Number of petal leaves (inner perianth leaves, usually coloured). | 3 (i) example: Iris
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Petal / Tepal fusion: (i)To which degree are the petal leaves connected? Petals sympetalous. | fused at base (i)petal leaves with a joint base, but fused over not more than 50% of the entire length example: Myosotis, Pedicularis, Cortusa
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Spur: (i)A hollow, slender, sac-like appendage of the perianth leaves, storing nectar. | no spur (i)Flower without appendage example: Peganum
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Stamen number: (i)Attention: We ask for the reproductive organs of the flower dispersing pollen. Count only fully fertile stamens, not staminodia (e.g. Parnassia). | 7-9 (i) example: Trientalis, Sedum
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Stamen fusion: (i)To which degree are the stamens fused? Attention: Whereas the pollen sacs itself are often free., their stalks (filaments) may be fused. Here, we count them as fused if they are together over at least one thirth of their length. | fused with each other (i)All or most stamens fused with each other to a tube-like structure example: Caragana, Petasites
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Pistil number: (i)Number of pistils (female floral organs: style, if developed; stigma and carpels/ovary together build the pistil). | 1 (i)One carpel, but clearly one stigma example: Pyrola, Primula, Alyssum
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Carpel number: (i)Number of carpels (carpel: forming a simple pistil or part of a compound pistil, modified leaf). | 2
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Carpel fusion: (i)To which degree are the carpels (modified leaf forming simple pistil or part of a compound pistil) fused. | fused (i)Carpels united into an ovary, only styles are free example: Malus, Berberis
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Ovary position: (i)For entirely or partly fused carpels, describe their position in relation to the insertion point of perianth leaves (best done by doing a longitudinal section of a flower). | superior (hypogynous) (i)Base of carpels attached above insertion point of perianth leaves, carpels free or fused example: Delphinium, Anemone
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Sex: (i)Distribution of male and female organs among flowers, only most commonly cases. | bisexual, hermaphrodite (i)All or nearly all flowers of a plant with male and female parts example: Haplophyllum, Chenopodium
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Inflorescence (i)flowering part of a plant, describes the arrangement of the flowers on the flowering axis | |
Inflorescence: (i)Structure of the inflorescence. | Flowers in inflorescence (i)No solitary flowers
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Appearance: (i)Outer look of the inflorescence. | terminal (i)Inflorescence is the highest point of the plant and may consist of a single flower only example: Cypripedium, Rhaponticum, Ligularia sibirica, Echinops axillary (i)Usually several inflorescences in axillary shoots or single flowers in leaf axils, main shoot remains mostly leafy example: Tragopogon, Aconogonon
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Inflorescence type: (i)Types of inflorescence. Attention: We here ask for the botanical nomenclature of inflorescences, which is sufficiently complicated. Tick only, if you are certain, or tick all inflorescence types that appear similar of these of the plant in question. | raceme (i)Stalked flowers arranged along a simple main axis, often one by one in the axils of leaves, maturing from bottom upwards example: Aconitum barbatum
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Fruit (i)the seed bearing organ, with or without adnate parts; a ripened ovary and any other structures which are attached and ripen with it. Aggregate fruits are handled like simple fruits for determination. | |
Consistency: (i)Fleshy fruits or dry fruits, see dispersal adaptations for further classification. | dry (i)With a dry outer shell, no fleshy parts, but seed (embryo) could be edible
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Type of fruit: (i)Common fruit types (including pseudocarp). | Solitary fruits (i) capsule (i)Dry dehiscent fruit, releasing seeds by slits or holes. example: Poppy, most Caryophyllaceae, Cerastium, a lot of Scrophulariaceae, Iris (oppened capsule looks like Delphinium), Zygophyllum - it is a very common fruit type Dehiscent fruits (i)Fruits open along a longitudinale line (except silicula)
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Opening of fruit: (i)Mode of dehiscence at maturity to release seeds. | opening along dehiscent line (i)Opening along a preformed line example: Vicia, Lathyrus: pods opening with valves (i)Capsules, siliqua, pods or follicles; opening with two or more dehiscent lines and split off outer parts as valves example: Alyssum, Arabis: siliqua, Epilobium: four-valved capsule, Arenaria: capsule with three valves. opening / dehiscent (i)Dry? Fruits opening with different types
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Dispersal: (i)Appearance of fruit or seed (if single) and adaptations to dispersal. | Otherwise (i)All parts dry, no conspicuous adaptations
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Root / shoot below ground (i)plant part below ground (in most cases), including below ground shoots, without leaves | |
Root type: (i)Organisation of the roots. | allorhizous (i)Plant with a conspicuous tap root, one larger tap root with side roots example: Dicotyledonae inherited by order Fabales: allorhizous
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