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Unicorn plant family
Martyniaceae
ツノゴマ科
A small family containing Proboscidea and related genera. About 5 genera and 16 species are known, mainly native to tropical America. Fruits bear long hooked horns that entangle in animal hooves and fur for a unique dispersal strategy.
Key Characteristics
- ●Fruits with long hooked horns (claws)
- ●Corolla sympetalous, zygomorphic and bilabiate
- ●Stamens 4 (didynamous)
- ●Leaves opposite or alternate, with sticky glandular hairs
- ●Epizoochory (fruits attach to animal hooves and fur)
Morphological Traits
A family may include species with different trait values — multiple values indicate the range within the family.
Leaf arrangement
Alternate / Opposite
Leaf type
Simple
Venation
Pinnate
Leaf margin
Entire
Growth form
Herb
Evergreen/Deciduous
Deciduous
Stipules
Absent
Flower symmetry
Zygomorphic
Petal count
Many
Petal fusion
Fused
Ovary position
Superior
Stamen count
5
Plant sex
Hermaphrodite
Phylogenetic Position
Angiosperms > Eudicots > Core eudicots > Lamiales > Martyniaceae
Divergence Era
Neogene to Quaternary
Representative Genera
Related Evolution Events
- ・Evolution of epizoochory via hooked horns for attachment to large mammals (ungulates)
Plants in Unicorn plant family on this site
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