Аннотация:A new reconstruction of the seed number evolution in the fruit of core Caryophyllales based on rbcL marker confirms the ancestral character state of one-seeded fruits with further radiation to the multi-seeded capsules in many clades also including the basal clade Corrigioleae. Some characters unite the one-seeded Corrigiola and multi-seeded Telephium. The reversion to one-seeded fruits is traced in many clades, but it is exceptionally rare in the terminal clades Caryophylleae and Sileneae. These complicated evolutionary trends generally contradict the traditionally accepted opinion that the one-seeded fruits represent the final stage in the reducing lineages originated from many-seeded capsules.
The carpological characters are quite different in the representatives of the family, and 15 of them were chosen for the delimitation of the species under investigation. There are three main modi of the pericarp topography, and two of them (parenchymatous or diversified into sclerenchymatous and parenchymatous pericarp) can be considered as an ancestral state. The «Scleranthus-type» (gen. Scleranthus) is clearly apomorphic in the family. The typical traits in the family are (1) rare emergence of the U-shaped cells in the pericarp; (2) seedcoat testa lacking stalactites, (3) presence of the perisperm in the seeds, and (4) vertical position of the embryo (in one-seeded fruits). Many carpological characters of the Caryophyllaceae are absent in the sister AAC clade (Achatocarpaceae + Amaranthaceae + Chenopodiaceae).