Briggs and Johnson, Hopkinsiaceae and Lyginiaceae 
481 
Table 1. Morphological and phytochemical characters of Hopkinsia, Lyginia, Anarthria and 
Restionaceae. 
+ presence of character; - absence; * considered to be an apomorphic condition; ** autapomorphy, 
i.e. sole occurrence among these taxa (some characters are marked as autapomorphies although common 
to other taxa, e.g. 2-sporangiate anthers shared by Restionaceae and Centrolepidaceae). Character states 
are defined so that conditions considered to be apomorphic are scored V. Several characters of related 
organs are listed together where these are fully correlated among these taxa. Rare conditions are in 
parentheses. 
Character 
dioecy 
root hairs not persistent and lignified 
culm sclerenchyma cylinder and 
parenchyma sheath 
leaf lamina reduced 
leaves equitant 
oblique epidermal cells and stomates 
'false pillar cells' in chlorenchyma, 
not around substomatal cavities 
flowering culms not branched 
inflorescence with caducous spathe 
hyaline perianth and bracts 
stamen filaments fused 
anthers 2-sporangiate 
pollen grain without graminoid annulus 
ovary unilocular 
stigmatic branches further branched 
fleshy pedicel; drupaceous fruit 
seed with spinules and median flange 
mitotic metaphase chromosome length 
(length of individual chromosomes) 
starch in megagametophyte 
fructan oligosaccharides in rhizome 
silica absent from culm 
rhombic crystals present 
allose oligosaccharides present 
flavones present 
Hopkinsia 
+* 
+* 
+ 
* 
+ * 
* 
1.7-2.7 pm 
? 
+ 
Anarthria Restionaceae 
+* +*/(-) 
+/- 
+* 
+* - +* 
_ | -k _ 
* _ _ 
_j_* * 
+*/- 
+*/- 
* 
+ */- 
Lyginia 
+* 
+* 
| -k * _ _ 
3-4 pm 3-7 pm 0.7-2 pm 
+ - + 
_i_* ★ _ 
+ + 
+* +* 
★ * _ _ 
+ +/- 
(2) Exclusion from Anarthriaceae 
Anarthria was separated from Restionaceae (Cutler & Shaw 1965) largely on the basis 
of its fundamentally different culm anatomy. It lacks a sclerenchyma cylinder and 
parenchymatous sheath isolating the chlorenchyma from the pith, having separate 
sclerenchyma masses that surround each vascular bundle. The leaves are not reduced 
but are highly distinctive in being equitant, with one margin representing the keel of 
