Survey of the Menispermaceae endocarps Frédéric M. B. JACQUES Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle, Département Histoire de la Terre, UMR 7207-CR2P, case postale 38, 57 rue Cuvier, F-75231 Paris cedex 05 (France) present address: Kunming Institute of Botany, Laboratory of Biodiversity and Biogeography, 610 Longquan Road, Heilongtan, Kunming, Yunnan 650204 (China)
[email protected] Jacques F. M. B. 2009. — Survey of the Menispermaceae endocarps. Adansonia, sér. 3, 31 (1) : 47-87. ABSTRACT Menispermaceae endocarps were very much used for long in the classifi cation of this family. Th is organ also presents a defi nite palaeobotanical interest as it is often present in fossil state. Th e lack of a detailed knowledge on the endocarps of extant Menispermaceae limits the identifi cation of those fossils. Th e present paper tries to fi ll this lack, describing endocarps of 116 species belonging to 55 diff erent genera. Th e whole Menispermaceae family has drupaceous fruits, but there is an important morphological diversity of the endocarps, the diff erences between affi liated species being sometimes very slight. However, the comparisons with molecular phylogenies show that the diff erences between endocarps have a phylogenetic signifi cance, to some extent. Menispermaceae endocarps are straight or underwent an often important curvature during their development. Almost all of these endocarps show a peculiar structure known as a condyle, which can have diff erent aspects. Some characters, such as the endosperm structure and KEY WORDS the style scar position on the pericarp, depend of endocarp characters, at least Menispermaceae, partially and with a few exceptions.