Aextoxicon | |
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Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Order: | Berberidopsidales |
Family: | Aextoxicaceae Engl. & Gilg [2] |
Genus: | Aextoxicon Ruiz & Pav. |
Species: | A. punctatum |
Binomial name | |
Aextoxicon punctatum | |
Aextoxicon is a genus of dioecious [3] trees native to southern Chile and Argentina. It is the only genus in the monotypic family Aextoxicaceae, and is itself represented by the olivillo (Aextoxicon punctatum). It is a large evergreen tree native to the forests of the Valdivian temperate rain forests and Magellanic subpolar forests of the Pacific coast of southern Chile, where it forms is a canopy tree in the broadleaf forests. It can reach 15 m tall.
The APG system (1998) and the APG II system (2003) left the family Aextoxicaceae unplaced in the core eudicots. It has since been included in the order Berberidopsidales. [4] The genus was formerly often included in the family Euphorbiaceae.
Aextoxicon punctatum is a large tree often found in the canopy or emergent. It has opposite leaves with dark green coloration on the top and lighter green below, and is covered in rusty peltate scales. The flowers are actinomorphic and unisexual, in hanging racemes. The flowers have 5 sepals and 5 petals. Male flowers have 5 stamens opposite the sepals while female flowers have two carpels that fuse to form a bilocular ovary. The fruit is a single seeded drupe that resembles an olive, thus giving the plant its common name. [5]
Aextoxicon punctatum is found in Chile, usually in damp places from the Bosque de Fray Jorge National Park southwards to the Chiloé Archipelago, also in the Valdivian forest and Magellanic forests of the southern Pacific coast. In Argentina it is present in the middle reaches of the Rio Negro valley, being invasive on the island of Choele Choel,[ dubious ] and it is common in the Lago Puelo National Park, Chubut.
The tree is used for its high-quality timber. [5]
The Crossosomatales are an order, first recognized as such by APG II. They are flowering plants included within the Rosid eudicots.
Berberidopsidales is an order of Southern Hemisphere woody flowering plants. The name is newly accepted in the APG III system of plant taxonomy. APG II system, of 2003, mentions the possibility of recognizing the order, as comprising the families Berberidopsidaceae and Aextoxicaceae. However, APG II left the families unplaced as to order, assigning them to the clade core eudicots. The APG III system of 2009 formally recognized the order.
The Buxales are a small order of eudicot flowering plants, recognized by the APG IV system of 2016. The order includes the family Buxaceae; the families Didymelaceae and Haptanthaceae may also be recognized or may be included in the Buxaceae. Many members of the order are evergreen shrubs or trees, although some are herbaceous perennials. They have separate "male" (staminate) and "female" (carpellate) flowers, mostly on the same plant. Some species are of economic importance either for the wood they produce or as ornamental plants.
Winteraceae is a primitive family of tropical trees and shrubs including 93 species in five genera. It is of particular interest because it is such a primitive angiosperm family, distantly related to Magnoliaceae, though it has a much more southern distribution. Plants in this family grow mostly in the southern hemisphere, and have been found in tropical to temperate climate regions of Malesia, Oceania, eastern Australia, New Zealand, Madagascar and the Neotropics, with most of the genera concentrated in Australasia and Malesia. The five genera, Takhtajania, Tasmannia, Drimys, Pseudowintera, and Zygogynum s.l. all have distinct geographic extant populations. Takhtajania includes a single species, T. perrieri, endemic only to Madagascar, Tasmannia has the largest distribution of genera in Winteraceae with species across the Philippines, Borneo, New Guinea, Eastern Australia, and Tasmannia, Drimys is found in the Neotropical realm, from southern Mexico to the subarctic forests of southern South America, Pseudowintera is found only in New Zealand, and Zygogynum has species in New Guinea and New Caledonia.
Griselinia is a genus of seven species of shrubs and trees, with a highly disjunct distribution native to New Zealand and South America. It is a classic example of the Antarctic flora. It is the sole genus in the family Griseliniaceae. In the past it was often placed in Cornaceae but differs from that in many features.
The eudicots, Eudicotidae, or eudicotyledons are a clade of flowering plants (angiosperms) which are mainly characterized by having two seed leaves (cotyledons) upon germination. The term derives from dicotyledon. Previously, they were called tricolpates or non-magnoliid dicots by past authors. The current botanical terms were introduced in 1991, by evolutionary botanist James A. Doyle and paleobotanist Carol L. Hotton, to emphasize the later evolutionary divergence of tricolpate dicots from earlier, less specialized, dicots.
Sabiaceae is a family of flowering plants that were placed in the order Proteales according to the APG IV system. It comprises three genera, Meliosma, Ophiocaryon and Sabia, with 66 known species, native to tropical to warm temperate regions of southern Asia and the Americas. The family has also been called Meliosmaceae Endl., 1841, nom. rej.
Chloranthaceae is a family of flowering plants (angiosperms), the only family in the order Chloranthales. It is not closely related to any other family of flowering plants, and is among the early-diverging lineages in the angiosperms. They are woody or weakly woody plants occurring in Southeast Asia, the Pacific, Madagascar, Central and South America, and the West Indies. The family consists of four extant genera, totalling about 77 known species according to Christenhusz and Byng in 2016. Some species are used in traditional medicine. The type genus is Chloranthus. The fossil record of the family, mostly represented by pollen such as Clavatipollenites, extends back to the dawn of the history of flowering plants in the Early Cretaceous, and has been found on all continents.
Peridiscaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Saxifragales. Four genera comprise this family: Medusandra, Soyauxia, Peridiscus, and Whittonia., with a total of 12 known species. It has a disjunct distribution, with Peridiscus occurring in Venezuela and northern Brazil, Whittonia in Guyana, Medusandra in Cameroon, and Soyauxia in tropical West Africa. Whittonia is possibly extinct, being known from only one specimen collected below Kaieteur Falls in Guyana. In 2006, archeologists attempted to rediscover it, however, it proved unsuccessful.
Euptelea is a genus of two species of flowering plants in the monogeneric family Eupteleaceae. The genus is found from Assam east through China to Japan, and consists of shrubs or small trees:
Berberidopsidaceae is a family of flowering plants. Such a family has only recently been recognized by more than a few taxonomists: the plants involved have often been treated as belonging to family Flacourtiaceae.
Ancistrocladus is a genus of woody lianas in the monotypic family Ancistrocladaceae. The branches climb by twining other stems or by scrambling with hooked tips. They are found in the tropics of the Old World.
Haloragaceae is a eudicot flowering plant family in the order Saxifragales, based on the phylogenetic APG system. In the Cronquist system, it was included in the order Haloragales.
Aphloia is a genus of flowering plants that contains a single species, Aphloia theiformis, the sole species of the monogeneric family Aphloiaceae. It is a species of evergreen shrubs or small trees occurring in East Africa, Madagascar, the Mascarene Islands and the Seychelles.
Geissoloma is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Geissolomataceae, native to the Cape Province of South Africa. Geissoloma marginatum is the only species in the family. It is sometimes called guyalone in English. The plants are xerophytic evergreen shrubs and are known to accumulate aluminum.
Sphenostemon is the genus of small evergreen trees or shrubs native to New Guinea, Queensland (Australia) and New Caledonia. They have opposite or spiral leaves, and at most small stipules. The small flowers, borne in terminal inflorescences, have free sepals and petals. The anthers have thick filaments. The fruit, a berry, is fleshy and contains two seeds. The genus is described as "particularly poorly known".
Lepidobotryaceae is a family of plants in the order Celastrales. It contains only two species: Lepidobotrys staudtii and Ruptiliocarpon caracolito.
The superrosids are members of a large clade of flowering plants, containing more than 88,000 species, and thus more than a quarter of all angiosperms.
In phylogenetic nomenclature, the Pentapetalae are a large group of eudicots that were informally referred to as the "core eudicots" in some papers on angiosperm phylogenetics. They comprise an extremely large and diverse group accounting for about 65% of the species richness of the angiosperms, with wide variability in habit, morphology, chemistry, geographic distribution, and other attributes. Classical systematics, based solely on morphological information, was not able to recognize this group. In fact, the circumscription of the Pentapetalae as a clade is based on strong evidence obtained from DNA molecular analysis data.
Berberidopsis beckleri is a species of climbing plant found in cool rainforests in eastern Australia. Its common name is the montane tape vine. Ferdinand von Mueller described the plant as Streptothamnus beckleri from collections at the Clarence River.