| # The Families of Angiosperms |

L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz

### Hanguanaceae Airy Shaw

Habit and leaf form. Somewhat grasslike herbs. Perennial; with a basal aggregation of leaves; rhizomatous. Helophytic, or mesophytic. Leaves alternate; spiral; petiolate; sheathing; simple. Lamina entire; linear, or lanceolate; pinnately veined (pinnate-parallel); cross-venulate (with many cross-nervules). Lamina margins entire. Leaf development probably ‘graminaceous’. Vernation convolute.

General anatomy. Plants with silica bodies (in the endodermis, abaxial hypodermis and mesophyll).

Leaf anatomy. Epidermis without silica bodies. Stomata present; tetracytic. Foliar vessels absent.

Axial (stem, wood) anatomy. Primary vascular tissues consisting of scattered bundles. Secondary thickening absent. The axial xylem without vessels.

Root anatomy. Root xylem with vessels; vessel end-walls scalariform.

Reproductive type, pollination. Fertile flowers functionally male, or functionally female. Unisexual flowers present. Plants dioecious. Female flowers with staminodes (six, 3 + 3). Gynoecium of male flowers pistillodial.

Inflorescence, floral, fruit and seed morphology. Flowers aggregated in ‘inflorescences’; in panicles. Inflorescences terminal; much branched, bracteate panicles. Flowers ebracteate; ebracteolate; small; regular; 3 merous; cyclic. Perigone tube present (short). Hypogynous disk absent (the male axis terminating in a conspicuous cluster of fleshy bodies).

Perianth of ‘tepals’ (the members small, rounded); 6; joined; 2 whorled; isomerous; petaloid; similar in the two whorls to different in the two whorls (the outer members smaller); pale.

Androecium 6. Androecial members adnate (to the base of the perianth); all equal; free of one another; 2 whorled. Androecium exclusively of fertile stamens. Stamens 6; diplostemonous. Anthers basifixed; dehiscing via longitudinal slits; introrse; tetrasporangiate. Pollen grains nonaperturate; spinulose.

Gynoecium 3 carpelled. Carpels isomerous with the perianth. The pistil 3 celled. Gynoecium syncarpous; eu-syncarpous; superior. Ovary 3 locular. Gynoecium non-stylate. Stigmas 1; broad, triangular. Placentation axile. Ovules 1 per locule; pendulous; orthotropous to hemianatropous.

Fruit fleshy; indehiscent; a drupe; 1–3 seeded. Seeds endospermic; bowl-shaped. Testa without phytomelan.

Physiology, phytochemistry. Proanthocyanidins present; cyanidin and delphinidin. Flavonols absent.

Geography, cytology. Paleotropical and Australian. Tropical. Ceylon, eastern Asia and Australia.

Taxonomy. Subclass Monocotyledonae. Dahlgren et al. Superorder Liliiflorae; Asparagales (?). APG III core angiosperms; Superorder Lilianae; commelinid Monocot. APG IV Order Commelinales.

Species 10. Genera 1; only genus, Hanguana.

General remarks. This description refers only to H. kassintu and H. major: new species described by Siti Nurfazilah et al (2010) (Willdenowia 40: 208) are not yet accounted for.

Illustrations. • H. malayana, as Susum anthelminthicum: Rev. hort. 61 (1889). • H. malayana: http://dic.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enc_biology/2127).

We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, distributions of character states within any set of taxa, geographical distribution, genera included in each family, and classifications (Dahlgren; Dahlgren, Clifford, and Yeo; Cronquist; APG). See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.

Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 1992 onwards. The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 8th June 2026. delta-intkey.com’.

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