1.
Gynoecium
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Gynoecium is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of pistils in a flower and is surrounded by the pollen-producing reproductive organs. The term gynoecium is also used by botanists to refer to a cluster of archegonia and any associated modified leaves or stems present on a shoot in mosses. The corresponding terms for the parts of those plants are clusters of antheridia within the androecium. Flowers that bear a gynoecium but no stamens are called carpellate, flowers lacking a gynoecium are called staminate. The gynoecium is often referred to as female because it gives rise to female gametophytes, however, strictly speaking sporophytes do not have a sex, only gametophytes do. Gynoecium development and arrangement is important in research and identification of angiosperms. The gynoecium may consist of one or more separate pistils, a pistil typically consists of an expanded basal portion called the ovary, an elongated section called a style and an apical structure that receives pollen called a stigma. The ovary, is the basal portion which contains placentas. The placentas and/or ovule may be born on the gynoecial appendages or less frequently on the floral apex, the chamber in which the ovules develop is called a locule. The style, is a pillar-like stalk through which pollen tubes grow to reach the ovary, some flowers such as Tulipa do not have a distinct style, and the stigma sits directly on the ovary. The style is a tube in some plants such as lilies. The stigma, is found at the tip of the style. It is commonly sticky or feathery to capture pollen, the word pistil comes from Latin pistillum meaning pestle. A sterile pistil in a flower is referred to as a pistillode. The pistils of a flower are considered to be composed of carpels, a carpel is a theoretical construct interpreted as modified leaves bearing structures called ovules, inside which the egg cells ultimately form. A pistil may consist of one carpel, with its ovary, style and stigma, or several carpels may be joined together with a single ovary, the gynoecium may consist of one or more uni-carpellate pistils, or of one multi-carpellate pistil. The number of carpels is described by such as tricarpellate
2.
Tulip
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The tulip is a Eurasian and North African genus of perennial, bulbous plants in the lily family. It is a herb with showy flowers, of which around 75 wild species are currently accepted. The tulips centre of diversity is in the Pamir, Hindu Kush and it is a common element of steppe and winter-rain Mediterranean vegetation. A number of species and many cultivars are grown in gardens or as potted plants. Tulips are spring-blooming perennials that grow from bulbs, depending on the species, tulip plants can be between 4 inches and 28 inches high. The tulips large flowers usually bloom on scapes with leaves in a rosette at ground level, larger species tend to have multiple leaves. Plants typically have two to six leaves, some species up to 12, the tulips leaf is strap-shaped, with a waxy coating, and the leaves are alternately arranged on the stem, these fleshy blades are often bluish green in color. Most tulips produce only one flower per stem, but a few species bear multiple flowers on their scapes, the generally cup or star-shaped tulip flower has three petals and three sepals, which are often termed tepals because they are nearly identical. These six tepals are often marked on the surface near the bases with darker colorings. Tulip flowers come in a variety of colors, except pure blue. The flowers have six distinct, basifixed stamens with filaments shorter than the tepals, each stigma has three distinct lobes, and the ovaries are superior, with three chambers. The tulips seed is a capsule with a covering and an ellipsoid to globe shape. Each capsule contains numerous flat, disc-shaped seeds in two rows per chamber and these light to dark brown seeds have very thin seed coats and endosperm that does not normally fill the entire seed. Tulipanin is a found in tulips. It is the 3-rutinoside of delphinidin, the chemical compounds named tuliposides and tulipalins can also be found in tulips and are responsible for allergies. Tulipalin A, or α-methylene-γ-butyrolactone, is an allergen, generated by hydrolysis of the glucoside tuliposide A. It induces a dermatitis that is mostly occupational and affects tulip bulb sorters and florists who cut the stems, tulipanin A and B are toxic to horses, cats and dogs. The genus Tulipa was traditionally divided into two sections, Eriostemones and Tulipa, and comprises ca.76 species
3.
Flowering plant
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The flowering plants, also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants, with 416 families, approx. 13,164 known genera and a total of c.295,383 known species, etymologically, angiosperm means a plant that produces seeds within an enclosure, in other words, a fruiting plant. The term angiosperm comes from the Greek composite word meaning enclosed seeds, the ancestors of flowering plants diverged from gymnosperms in the Triassic Period, during the range 245 to 202 million years ago, and the first flowering plants are known from 160 mya. They diversified extensively during the Lower Cretaceous, became widespread by 120 mya, angiosperms differ from other seed plants in several ways, described in the table. These distinguishing characteristics taken together have made the angiosperms the most diverse and numerous land plants, the amount and complexity of tissue-formation in flowering plants exceeds that of gymnosperms. The vascular bundles of the stem are arranged such that the xylem and phloem form concentric rings, in the dicotyledons, the bundles in the very young stem are arranged in an open ring, separating a central pith from an outer cortex. In each bundle, separating the xylem and phloem, is a layer of meristem or active formative tissue known as cambium, the soft phloem becomes crushed, but the hard wood persists and forms the bulk of the stem and branches of the woody perennial. Among the monocotyledons, the bundles are more numerous in the stem and are scattered through the ground tissue. They contain no cambium and once formed the stem increases in diameter only in exceptional cases, the characteristic feature of angiosperms is the flower. Flowers show remarkable variation in form and elaboration, and provide the most trustworthy external characteristics for establishing relationships among angiosperm species, the function of the flower is to ensure fertilization of the ovule and development of fruit containing seeds. The floral apparatus may arise terminally on a shoot or from the axil of a leaf, occasionally, as in violets, a flower arises singly in the axil of an ordinary foliage-leaf. There are two kinds of cells produced by flowers. Microspores, which divide to become pollen grains, are the male cells and are borne in the stamens. The female cells called megaspores, which divide to become the egg cell, are contained in the ovule. The flower may consist only of parts, as in willow. Usually, other structures are present and serve to protect the sporophylls, the individual members of these surrounding structures are known as sepals and petals. The outer series is usually green and leaf-like, and functions to protect the rest of the flower, the inner series is, in general, white or brightly colored, and is more delicate in structure. It functions to attract insect or bird pollinators, attraction is effected by color, scent, and nectar, which may be secreted in some part of the flower
4.
Pollen
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Pollen is a fine to coarse powdery substance comprising pollen grains which are male microgametophytes of seed plants, which produce male gametes. If pollen lands on a compatible pistil or female cone, it germinates, individual pollen grains are small enough to require magnification to see detail. The study of pollen is called palynology and is useful in paleoecology, paleontology, archaeology. Pollen in plants is used for transferring haploid male genetic material from the anther of a flower to the stigma of another in cross-pollination. In a case of self-pollination, this takes place from the anther of a flower to the stigma of the same flower. Pollen itself is not the male gamete, each pollen grain contains vegetative cells and a generative cell. In flowering plants the vegetative tube cell produces the pollen tube, pollen is produced in the microsporangia in the male cone of a conifer or other gymnosperm or in the anthers of an angiosperm flower. Pollen grains come in a variety of shapes, sizes. Pollen grains of pines, firs, and spruces are winged, the smallest pollen grain, that of the forget-me-not, is around 6 µm in diameter. Wind-borne pollen grains can be as large as about 90–100 µm, in angiosperms, during flower development the anther is composed of a mass of cells that appear undifferentiated, except for a partially differentiated dermis. As the flower develops, four groups of cells form within the anther. The fertile sporogenous cells are surrounded by layers of cells that grow into the wall of the pollen sac. Some of the cells grow into nutritive cells that supply nutrition for the microspores that form by meiotic division from the sporogenous cells, in a process called microsporogenesis, four haploid microspores are produced from each diploid sporogenous cell, after meiotic division. After the formation of the four microspores, which are contained by callose walls, the exine is what is preserved in the fossil record. Two basic types of microsporogenesis are recognised, simultaneous and successive, in simultaneous microsporogenesis meiotic steps I and II are completed prior to cytokinesis, whereas in successive microsporogenesis cytokinesis follows. While there may be a continuum with intermediate forms, the type of microsporogenesis has systematic significance, the predominant form amongst the monocots is successive, but there are important exceptions. During microgametogenesis, the unicellular microspores undergo mitosis and develop into mature microgametophytes containing the gametes, in some flowering plants, germination of the pollen grain may begin even before it leaves the microsporangium, with the generative cell forming the two sperm cells. Except in the case of submerged aquatic plants, the mature pollen grain has a double wall
5.
Fruit
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In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants formed from the ovary after flowering. Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate seeds, accordingly, fruits account for a substantial fraction of the worlds agricultural output, and some have acquired extensive cultural and symbolic meanings. On the other hand, in usage, fruit includes many structures that are not commonly called fruits, such as bean pods, corn kernels, tomatoes. The section of a fungus that produces spores is called a fruiting body. Many common terms for seeds and fruit do not correspond to the botanical classifications, however, in botany, a fruit is the ripened ovary or carpel that contains seeds, a nut is a type of fruit and not a seed, and a seed is a ripened ovule. Examples of culinary vegetables and nuts that are botanically fruit include corn, cucurbits, eggplant, legumes, sweet pepper, in addition, some spices, such as allspice and chili pepper, are fruits, botanically speaking. g. Botanically, a grain, such as corn, rice, or wheat, is also a kind of fruit. However, the wall is very thin and is fused to the seed coat. The outer, often edible layer, is the pericarp, formed from the ovary and surrounding the seeds, the pericarp may be described in three layers from outer to inner, the epicarp, mesocarp and endocarp. Fruit that bears a prominent pointed terminal projection is said to be beaked, a fruit results from maturation of one or more flowers, and the gynoecium of the flower forms all or part of the fruit. Inside the ovary/ovaries are one or more ovules where the megagametophyte contains the egg cell, after double fertilization, these ovules will become seeds. The ovules are fertilized in a process starts with pollination. After pollination, a tube grows from the pollen through the stigma into the ovary to the ovule, later the zygote will give rise to the embryo of the seed, and the endosperm mother cell will give rise to endosperm, a nutritive tissue used by the embryo. As the ovules develop into seeds, the ovary begins to ripen and the ovary wall, in some multiseeded fruits, the extent to which the flesh develops is proportional to the number of fertilized ovules. The pericarp is often differentiated into two or three distinct layers called the exocarp, mesocarp, and endocarp, in some fruits, especially simple fruits derived from an inferior ovary, other parts of the flower, fuse with the ovary and ripen with it. In other cases, the sepals, petals and/or stamens and style of the fall off. When such other floral parts are a significant part of the fruit, it is called an accessory fruit, since other parts of the flower may contribute to the structure of the fruit, it is important to study flower structure to understand how a particular fruit forms. There are three modes of fruit development, Apocarpous fruits develop from a single flower having one or more separate carpels
6.
Seed
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A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering. The formation of the seed is part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, Seeds are the product of the ripened ovule, after fertilization by pollen and some growth within the mother plant. The embryo is developed from the zygote and the coat from the integuments of the ovule. Seed plants now dominate biological niches on land, from forests to both in hot and cold climates. The term seed also has a meaning that antedates the above—anything that can be sown, e. g. seed potatoes. In the case of sunflower and corn seeds, what is sown is the seed enclosed in a shell or husk, many structures commonly referred to as seeds are actually dry fruits. Plants producing berries are called baccate, sunflower seeds are sometimes sold commercially while still enclosed within the hard wall of the fruit, which must be split open to reach the seed. Different groups of plants have other modifications, the stone fruits have a hardened fruit layer fused to. Nuts are the one-seeded, hard-shelled fruit of plants with an indehiscent seed. Seeds are produced in several related groups of plants, and their manner of production distinguishes the angiosperms from the gymnosperms, angiosperm seeds are produced in a hard or fleshy structure called a fruit that encloses the seeds, hence the name. Some fruits have layers of hard and fleshy material. In gymnosperms, no special structure develops to enclose the seeds, however, the seeds do become covered by the cone scales as they develop in some species of conifer. Seed production in natural plant populations varies widely from year-to-year in response to weather variables, insects and diseases, over a 20-year period, for example, forests composed of loblolly pine and shortleaf pine produced from 0 to nearly 5 million sound pine seeds per hectare. Over this period, there were six bumper, five poor, and nine good seed crops, right after fertilization, the zygote is mostly inactive, but the primary endosperm divides rapidly to form the endosperm tissue. This tissue becomes the food the young plant will consume until the roots have developed after germination, after fertilization the ovules develop into the seeds. The ovule consists of a number of components, The funicle or seed stalk which attaches the ovule to the placenta and hence ovary or fruit wall, the nucellus, the remnant of the megasporangium and main region of the ovule where the megagametophyte develops. The micropyle, a pore or opening in the apex of the integument of the ovule where the pollen tube usually enters during the process of fertilization. The chalaza, the base of the ovule opposite the micropyle, the shape of the ovules as they develop often affects the final shape of the seeds
7.
Dehiscence (botany)
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Dehiscence is the splitting at maturity along a built-in line of weakness in a plant structure in order to release its contents, and is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part, structures that open in this way are said to be dehiscent. Structures that do not open in this way are called indehiscent, dehiscence may or may not involve the loss of a structure through the process of abscission. The lost structures are said to be caducous, manipulation of dehiscence can improve crop yield since a trait that causes seed dispersal is a disadvantage for farmers whose goal is to collect the seed. Many of the agronomically important plants have been bred for reduced shattering, explosive dehiscence is a ballistic form of dispersal that flings seeds or spores far from the parent plant. This rapid plant movement can achieve limited dispersal without the assistance of animals, a notable example is the sandbox tree, which can fling seeds 100 meters and has been called the Dynamite tree due to the loud sound of its explosive dehiscence. Another example is Impatiens, whose explosive dehiscence is triggered by being touched, explosive dehiscence of sporangia is a characteristic of Sphagnum. Septicidal and loculicidal dehiscence may not be distinct, in some cases both the septa and the walls of the locules split. Dehiscence occurs through breakage of parts of the enclosing structure, the mechanisms can be classified in various ways. Dehiscence through a hole is referred to as poricidal dehiscence. The pore may have a cover that is referred to as an operculum or it may not, poricidal dehiscence occurs in many unrelated organisms, in fruit, causing the release of seeds, and also in the sporangia of many organisms. Poricidal anthers of flowers are associated with buzz pollination by insects. Circumscissile dehiscence involves a horizontal opening that causes a lid to separate completely and this type of dehiscence occurs in some fruit and anthers and also in some flower buds. Anther dehiscence is the function of the anther that causes the release of pollen grains. This process is coordinated precisely with pollen differentiation, floral development, the anther wall breaks at a specific site. Usually this site is observed as an indentation between the locules of each theca and runs the length of the anther, but in species with poricidal anther dehiscence it is instead a small pore. If the pollen is released from the anther through a split on the side, this is extrorse dehiscence, and if the pollen is released from the inner side. If the pollen is released through a split that is positioned to the side, towards other anthers, rather than towards the inside or outside of the flower, the stomium is the region of the anther where dehiscence occurs
8.
Melon
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A melon is any of various plants of the family Cucurbitaceae with sweet edible, fleshy fruit. The word melon can refer to either the plant or specifically to the fruit, botanically, a melon is a kind of berry, specifically a pepo. The word melon derives from Latin melopepo, which is the latinization of the Greek μηλοπέπων, meaning melon, itself a compound of μῆλον, apple and πέπων, many different cultivars have been produced, particularly of muskmelons. Melons originated in Africa and southwest Asia, but they began to appear in Europe toward the end of the Roman Empire. Melons were among the earliest plants to be domesticated in both the Old and New Worlds, early European settlers in the New World are recorded as growing honeydew and casaba melons as early as the 1600s. Organizations like Native Seeds/SEARCH have made an effort to collect and preserve these, winter melon is the only member of the genus Benincasa. The mature winter melon is a vegetable that is widely used in Asia and India. The immature melons are used as a culinary fruit, egusi is a wild melon, similar in appearance to the watermelon. The flesh is inedible, but the seeds are a food source in Africa. Other species that have the same role, and that are also called egusi include Cucumeropsis mannii. Watermelon originated in Africa, where evidence indicates that it has been cultivated for over 4,000 years and it is a popular summer fruit in all parts of the world. Melons in genus Cucumis are culinary fruits, and include the majority of culinary melons, all but a handful of culinary melon varieties belong to the species Cucumis melo L. Horned melon, a traditional food plant in Africa with distinctive spikes. Now grown in California, Chile, Australia and New Zealand as well, muskmelon C. melo cantalupensis, with skin that is rough and warty, not netted. The European cantaloupe, with lightly ribbed, pale skin, was domesticated in the 18th century, in Cantalupo in Sabina, Italy. Varieties include the French Charentais and the Burpee Seeds hybrid Netted Gem, the Yubari King is a highly prized Japanese cantaloupe cultivar. The Persian melon resemble a large cantaloupe with a darker green rind, C. melo inodorus, casabas, honeydew, and Asian melons Argos, a large, oblong, with orange wrinkled skin, orange flesh, strong aroma. A characteristic is its pointed ends, growing in some areas of Greece, from which it was named. Canary melon, a large, bright-yellow melon with a green to white inner flesh
9.
Peganum harmala
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Peganum harmala, commonly called esfand, wild rue, Syrian rue, African rue, harmel, or aspand, is a plant of the family Nitrariaceae. Its common English-language name came about because of a resemblance to rue, the plants seeds are especially noteworthy because they have seen continual use for thousands of years in the rites of many cultures. The plant has remained a tool in both folk medicine and spiritual practices for so long that some historians believe the plant may be the ancient soma. It is a plant which can grow to about 0.8 m tall. The roots of the plant can reach a depth of up to 6.1 m and it blossoms between June and August in the Northern Hemisphere. The flowers are white and are about 2. 5–3.8 cm in diameter, the round seed capsules measure about 1–1.5 cm in diameter, have three chambers and carry more than 50 seeds. Peganum harmala is of Asian Origin and grows in the Middle East and in part of South Asia mainly in India and it was first planted in the United States in 1928 in New Mexico by a farmer wanting to manufacture the dye Persian red from its seeds. Since then, it has spread invasively to Arizona, California, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Texas, because it is so drought tolerant, African rue can displace the native saltbushes and grasses growing in the salt-desert shrub lands of the Western U. S. In Turkey, dried capsules from this plant are strung and hung in homes or vehicles to protect against the evil eye and it is widely used for protection against Djinn in Morocco. When they burst a fragrant smoke is released and this smoke is wafted around the head of those afflicted by or exposed to the gaze of strangers while a specific prayer is recited. This tradition is followed by members of many religions, including Christians, Muslims. In several versions of the prayer accompanying the ritual, the name of an ancient Zoroastrian Persian king and he is said to have first learned the prayer from five protective female spirits, called Yazds. In Yemen, the Jewish custom of old was to bleach wheaten flour on Passover, in order to produce a clean and white unleavened bread. The wheat was left in this state for a few days, afterwards, the wheat was taken up and sifted, to rid them of the residue of leaves. They were then ground into flour, which left a clean, Peganum harmala has been used to treat pain and to treat skin inflammations, including skin cancers. Peganum harmala has been used as an emmenagogue and abortifacient agent, the root is applied to kill lice and when burned, the seeds kill insects and inhibit the reproduction of the Tribolium castaneum beetle. It is also used as an anthelmintic, reportedly, the ancient Greeks used the powdered seeds to get rid of tapeworms and to treat recurring fevers. A red dye, Turkey red, from the seeds is used in western Asia to dye carpets
10.
Berry (botany)
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In botanical terminology, a berry is a fleshy fruit without a stone produced from a single flower containing one ovary. Berries so defined include grapes, currants, and tomatoes, as well as cucumbers, eggplants and bananas, the berry is the most common type of fleshy fruit in which the entire outer layer of the ovary wall ripens into a potentially edible pericarp. Berries may be formed one or more carpels from the same flower. The seeds are embedded in the fleshy interior of the ovary. Many berries are edible, but others, such as the fruits of the potato, some berries, such as the white and red mulberry, are poisonous when unripe, but are edible in their ripe form. A plant that bears berries is said to be bacciferous or baccate, in everyday English, berry is a term for any small edible fruit. Berries are usually juicy, round, brightly coloured, sweet or sour, in botanical language, a berry is a simple fruit having seeds and fleshy pulp produced from the ovary of a single flower. The ovary can be inferior or superior and it is indehiscent, i. e. it does not have a special line of weakness along which it splits to release the seeds when ripe. The pericarp is divided into three layers, the outer layer is called the exocarp or epicarp, the middle layer, the mesocarp or sarcocarp, the inner layer, the endocarp. Botanists have not applied these terms consistently, exocarp and endocarp may be restricted to more-or-less single-layered skins, or may include tissues adjacent to them, thus on one view, the exocarp extends inwards to the layer of vascular bundles. The inconsistency in usage has been described as a source of confusion, the nature of the endocarp distinguishes a berry from a drupe, which has a hardened or stony endocarp. The two kinds of fruit intergrade, depending on the state of the endocarp, some sources have attempted to quantify the difference, e. g. requiring the endocarp to be less than 2 mm thick in a berry. Examples of botanical berries include, True berries, or baccae, may also be required to have an outer skin. This distinguishes, for example, a Vaccinium or Solanum berry from an Adansonia amphisarca, which has a dry, more rigid and self-supporting skin. The fruit of citrus, such as the orange, kumquat and lemon, is a berry with a thick rind and a juicy interior divided into segments by septae. Another specialized term is used for some Cucurbitaceae fruits, which are modified to have a hard outer rind. These are given the special name pepo, while pepos are most common in the Cucurbitaceae, the fruits of Passiflora and Carica are sometimes also considered pepos. Berries that develop from an inferior ovary are sometimes termed epigynous berries or false berries, as opposed to true berries, in epigynous berries, the berry includes tissue derived from parts of the flower besides the ovary
11.
Drupe
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In botany, a drupe is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part surrounds a shell of hardened endocarp with a seed inside. These fruits usually develop from a carpel, and mostly from flowers with superior ovaries. Other fleshy fruits may have an enclosure that comes from the seed coat surrounding the seed. The term drupaceous is applied to a fruit which has the structure and texture of a drupe, the boundary between a drupe and a berry is not always clear. Thus some sources describe the fruit of species of the genus Persea, one definition of berry requires the endocarp to be less than 2 mm thick, other fruits with a stony endocarp being drupes. In marginal cases, terms such as drupaceous or drupe-like may be used, the term stone fruit can be a synonym for drupe or, more typically, it can mean just the fruit of the genus Prunus. Freestone refers to a drupe having a stone which can be removed from the flesh with ease, the flesh is not attached to the stone and does not need to be cut to free the stone. Freestone varieties of fruits are preferred for uses that require removal of the stone. Freestone plums are preferred for making homegrown prunes, and freestone sour cherries are preferred for making pies, clingstone refers to a drupe having a stone which cannot easily be removed from the flesh. The flesh is attached strongly to the stone and must be cut to free the stone, clingstone varieties of fruits in the genus Prunus are preferred as table fruit and for jams, because the flesh of clingstone fruits tends to be more tender and juicy throughout. Tryma is a term for such nut-like drupes that are difficult to categorize. Hickory nuts and walnuts in the Juglandaceae family grow within a husk, these fruits are technically drupes or drupaceous nuts. Many drupes, with their sweet, fleshy outer layer, attract the attention of animals as a food, and the plant population benefits from the resulting dispersal of its seeds. The endocarp is sometimes dropped after the part is eaten, but is often swallowed, passing through the digestive tract. This passage through the tract can reduce the thickness of the endocarp. The process is known as scarification, typical drupes include apricots, olives, peaches, plums, cherries, mangoes and amlas. The coconut is also a drupe, but the mesocarp is fibrous or dry, so this type of fruit is classified as a simple dry, unlike other drupes, the coconut seed is unlikely to be dispersed by being swallowed by fauna, due to its large size. It can, however, float extremely long distances across oceans, bramble fruits are aggregates of drupelets
12.
Lythraceae
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Lythraceae is a family of flowering plants, including 32 genera with about 620 species of herbs, shrubs and trees. The larger genera include Cuphea, Lagerstroemia, Nesaea, Rotala and it also includes the pomegranate and the water caltrop. Lythraceae has a distribution, with most species in the tropics. The family is named after the genus, Lythrum, the loosestrifes. It now includes the pomegranate, formerly classed in a separate family Punicaceae, the family also includes the widely cultivated crape myrtle trees. Botanically, the leaves are usually in pairs, and the petals emerge from the rim of the calyx tube. Lythraceae species are most often herbs, and less often shrubs or trees, traits shared by species within the Lythraceae that distinguish them from belonging to other plant families are the petals being crumpled in the bud and the many-layered outer integument of the seed. The leaves generally have an arrangement, but sometimes are whorled or alternate. They are simple with smooth margins and pinnate venation, stipules are typically reduced, appearing as a row of minute hairs, or absent. The flowers are bisexual, radially or occasionally bilaterally symmetric, with a well-developed hypanthium, the flowers are most commonly four-merous but can be six-merous, with four to eight sepals and petals. The sepals may be distinct, partially fused to form a tube, the petals are crumpled in the bud and wrinkled at maturity, and are typically distinct and overlapping, they are occasionally absent. There are usually twice as many stamens as petals, arranged in two whorls, and the stamens are unequal in length. Occasionally, the stamens are reduced to one whorl, or are more numerous with multiple whorls, the ovary is typically superior, infrequently semi-inferior, or rarely inferior. The two to many carpels can be fused together, with two to numerous ovules in each locule, with axile placentation of the ovules. Heterostyly – the presence of two or three distinct flower morphs within a species differing in the lengths of the pistil and stamens – is common within the Lythraceae, the fruit is usually a dry, dehiscent capsule, occasionally a berry. The seeds are usually flattened and/or winged, with a many-layered outer integument, epidermal hairs that expand and become mucilaginous when wet are found in about half the genera. Lythraceae is widely distributed, but with most species tropical and some temperate and they are absent from the Sahara and most arid regions of Australia. Many species occur in aquatic or semi-aquatic habitats, edible crops include the pomegranate and the water caltrop
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