Family Tapisciaceae

Tapisciaceae (F. Pax) Takhtajan

~ Staphyleaceae-Tapiscioïdeae

Habit and leaf form. Small trees and shrubs; non-laticiferous and without coloured juice. Leaves alternate; petiolate; non-sheathing; not gland-dotted; compound; bifoliolate to pinnate (3–10 jugate, never unifoliolate); stipulate (Tapiscia), or exstipulate (Huertia). Stipules if present, caducous. Lamina margins serrate.

Leaf anatomy. Mucilaginous epidermis present, or absent. Stomata present. Hairs present; eglandular.

Lamina dorsiventral.

Stem anatomy. Cork cambium present. Nodes tri-lacunar. Secondary thickening developing from a conventional cambial ring. Vessel end-walls oblique; scalariform.

Reproductive type, pollination. Plants hermaphrodite, or monoecious, or dioecious, or polygamomonoecious.

Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in racemes, or in panicles. Inflorescences terminal, or axillary; drooping panicles or racemes. Flowers small; regular; 5 merous; cyclic. Free hypanthium absent. Hypogynous disk absent.

Perianth with distinct calyx and corolla; 10; 2 whorled; isomerous; sepaloid and petaloid, or petaloid. Calyx 5; 1 whorled; gamosepalous (connate to varying extents). Calyx lobes markedly shorter than the tube (shortly toothed, in Tapiscia), or markedly longer than the tube (Huertia). Calyx regular; imbricate. Corolla 5; 1 whorled; polypetalous; imbricate; regular.

Androecium 5. Androecial members free of the perianth; all equal; free of one another; 1 whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 5; isomerous with the perianth; oppositisepalous; alternating with the corolla members; filantherous. Anthers dorsifixed; versatile; dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse; tetrasporangiate. Pollen shed as single grains. Pollen grains aperturate; colporate, or rugate (polyrugate in Huertia).

Gynoecium (2–)3(–4) carpelled. Carpels reduced in number relative to the perianth. The pistil 2–3(–4) celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; synstylovarious, or eu-syncarpous (the completely united into an unlobed ovary and stylar column); superior. Ovary 3 locular (?). Gynoecium stylate. Styles 1; apical. Placentation axile. Ovules 1–2 per locule (“only 1 or two ovules in the entire ovary”: Airy Shaw); non-arillate; anatropous; bitegmic (?); crassinucellate (?). Outer integument contributing to the micropyle (?).

Fruit fleshy to non-fleshy; indehiscent; a berry, or a drupe. The drupes with one stone. Fruit 1–2 seeded. Seeds endospermic. Embryo straight.

Geography, cytology. Paleotropical and Neotropical. Sub-tropical to tropical. Cuba and South America (Huertia), China (Tapiscia).

Taxonomy. Subclass Dicotyledonae; Crassinucelli. Dahlgren’s Superorder Rutiflorae (seemingly misplaced: Gadek et al 1996); Geraniales (? — pending reassignment). Cronquist’s Subclass Rosidae; Sapindales. APG 3 core angiosperms; core eudicot; Superorder Rosanae; malvid; Order Huertiales.

Species 7. Genera 2; Huertia, Tapiscia.