Family Cruciferae – Description in Semi-Technical Terms
Biology Notes | Botany
Family: Cruciferae
General Description in Semi-Technical Terms
For: Science Class 11
Family : Cruciferae
, Cr This family includes vegetables flowers and wild varieties. Some economically important plants of this family are :
Brassica campestris, (TORI) Important for oil and vegetable
B. rapa, (Turnip) Important for vegetable
B. nigra, (RAYO) Important for oil and vegetable
B. oleracea, (CAULI) Important vegetable and Anticancer
Raphnus sativus (MULA) Important vegetable
Lepidium sativum (CHAMSUR) Important vegetable
Habit habitat: Annual or biannual or sometimes perennial, herbs, rarely shrubs, wild or cultivated, terrestrial, mesophytic.
Root: Tap root and branched or modified (fusiform e.g. Raphnus sativus, Napioform e.g. B.rapa), sometimes adventitious e.g. Roripa.
Stem: Erect, herbaceous, branched, cylindrical, solid, hairy or glabrous, green, sometimes stem is condensed or thickened (B. oleraces, R. sativs)
Leaf: Exstipulate, petiolate or sessile, alternate, rarely opposite, simple, cauline and ramal or radical, lyrate, lobed or entire, acute, glabrous, unicostate, reticulate venetation.
Inflorescence: racemose, receme or corymb
Flower: Ebracteate, ebractiolate, pedicellate, hermaphrodite, complete, actinomorphic or zygomorphic, hypogynous, tetramerous, small, white or yellow.
Calyx: sepals-4, polysepalous, sepaloid, sepals in two worls, 2 in each whorl, hairy or glabrous, imbricate aestivation.
Corolla: petals-4, polypetalous, cruciform, each petal consists of limb and claw, alternate with sepals, petaloid, valvet or imbricate aestivation.
Androecium: stamens-6, tetramerous, polyandrous. Anther ? bicelled, dithecous, basifixed, introse
Gynoecium: Carpels-2, bicarpellary, syncarpous. Ovary – superior, unilocular or bilocular, placentation parietal. Style ? short. Stigma ? bilobed or glabrous.
Fruit: Siliqua
Seed: Dicotyledinous and non-endospermic
Floral formula:
Floral Diagram:
Systemic position:
Kingdom : Plantae
——Division : Angiosperm
————Class : Dicotyledonae
——————Subclass : Polypetalae
———————–Series: Thalamiflorae
—————————Order : Parietals
———————————Family: Cruciferae
Distinguishing characters
Herbaceous stem, alternate leaves, racemose inflorescence, ebracteate, tetramerous, sepals ? 4, polysepalous, Petals ? 4, polypetalous, cruciform, stamens ? 6, tetradynamous, fruit is siliqua.
