Flora of New Zealand Series

Annual to perennial herbs, rarely small shrubs. Hairs simple, glandular or eglandular. Lvs opposite, rarely alternate or whorled, stipulate or exstipulate, simple, entire. Infl. usually terminal, typically a bracteate dichasium, sometimes a panicle or reduced to a monochasium or fls solitary. Fls hypogynous, very rarely perigynous, usually ⚥, actinomorphic. Sepals (4)-5, free or united; commissures when present green or scarious, veined or not veined. Petals (4)-5 or 0, free, clawed or not clawed, either entire, toothed, emarginate or 2-fid. Stamens 0-10, usually twice as many as sepals. Ovary of 2-5 fused carpels, 1-celled at least above; placentation free-central or basal. Stigmas (1)-2-5, free. Fr. a capsule, usually many-seeded and dehiscing by as many or twice as many teeth as the styles, rarely indehiscent, rarely 1-seeded or a berry. Seeds variously shaped, usually sculptured, often papillate; embryo curved around perisperm, rarely straight.

SYNOPSIS

Some members of the Paronychoideae are sometimes treated as belonging to a segregate family, the Illecebraceae.

• A. Subfam. PARONYCHOIDEAE. 
• • Stipules present; sepals free, hypogynous.
  • 1 Trib.
  • • Fr. indehiscent or dehiscing by basal slits:
    • HernariaIllecebrumParonychia
  • 2. Trib. POLYCARPEAE. 
  • • Fr. dehiscing by apical teeth:
    • PolycarponSpergulaSpergularia
• B. Subfam. ALSINOIDEAE. 
• • Stipules 0; sepals usually free, hypogynous, or rarely united into a perigynous tube.
  • 3. Trib. ALSINEAE. 
  • • Fr. dehiscent; sepals free:
    • ArenariaCerastiumColobanthusHolosteumMinuartiaMoehringiaMoenchiaSaginaStellaria
  • 4. Trib. SCLERANTHEAE. 
  • • Fr. indehiscent; sepals united into a perigynous tube:
    • Scleranthus
• C. Subfam. CARYOPHYLLOIDEAE. 
• • Stipules 0; sepals united into a hypogynous tube.
  • 5. Trib. CARYOPHYLLEAE. 
  • • Styles 2.
    • (i)
    • • Epicalyx present:
      • DianthusPetrorhagia
    • (ii)
    • • Epicalyx 0:
      • GypsophilaSaponariaVaccaria
  • 6. Trib. LYCHNIDEAE. 
  • • Styles 3-5:
    • AgrostemmaLychnisSilene

70 genera, 1750 spp., cosmopolitan but mostly temperate.

Hectorella caespitosa, the only member of the genus, has been removed from the Caryophyllaceae and placed along with Lyallia of Kerguelen Id in a new family, the Hectorellaceae [Philipson, W. R. and Skipworth, J. P., Trans. Roy. Soc. N.Z. (Bot.) 1: 31 (1961)]. The 2-partite outer floral whorl (calyx?) of Hectorella and Lyallia might indicate an affinity with Portulacaceae, suggested most recently by Rodman, J. E., et al., Syst. Bot. 9: 297-323 (1984), but this has a different orientation in Portulacaceae [Skipworth, J. P., Trans. Roy. Soc. N.Z. (Bot.) 1: 17-30 (1961)] and may not be homologous. Other papers concerning the placement of Hectorella are listed in the Annals of Taxonomic Research in Fl. New Zealand 1-4 . Nyananyo, B. L. and Heywood, V. H., Taxon 36: 641 (1987), placed H. caespitosa in Lyallia as L. caespitosa (Hook. f.) Nyananyo et Heyw., but some of the character states used (e.g., C3 vascular bundles, embryo curved around endosperm) are inappropriate at this level while others (e.g., capsule dehiscent) are in conflict with other accounts. Nevertheless the 2 genera have features in common and their relationship is not in doubt.