Caryophyllaceae

Features of Caryophyllales (from lab manual)

Plant Sex: Flowers usually bisexual

Flowers: Actinomorphic. Sepals free or connate. Petals often notched, sometimes deeply (Stellaria). Free central placentation.

Inflorescence: Flowers solitary or in dichasial cymes

Fruits: Capsules opening by apical teeth

Habit: Annual and perennial herbs. Nodes often swollen

Leaves: Simple, opposite, sometimes with joined leaf bases

Examples:
Agrostemma (corn cockle)

flowering shoots of A. githago.
Flower
Fruit
Young fruit in L.S.
Seeds, some sectioned.

Dianthus (carnation)

Flowering shoots of a cultivated variety of D. barbatus.
flower in L.S.
A beautiful species from Cantabria, Spain.

Stellaria (chickweed)

Habit of S. media, a common chickweed.
Flower L.S.
Fruit developmental series

Silene (campion or catchfly)

S. virginica in flower.
S. regia, a rare plant in Illinois.

Saponaria (soapwort, bouncing bet)

Habit of plants in flower
Flowering shoot
Flower, and in L.S.

SIUC / College of Science / Elements of Plant Systematics
URL: http://www.plantbiology.siu.edu/PLB304/Lecture14Caryop/Caryophyllaceae.html
Last updated: 05-Mar-08 / dln