The Celastrales are an order of flowering plants found throughout the tropics and subtropics, with only a few species extending far into the temperate regions. The 1200 [1] to 1350 [2] species are in about 100 genera. All but seven of these genera are in the large family Celastraceae. The anthophytes are a grouping of plant taxa bearing flower-like reproductive structures. They were formerly thought to be a clade comprising plants bearing flower-like structures. The group contained the angiosperms – the extant flowering plants, such as roses and grasses – as well as the Gnetales and the extinct Bennettitales. [3]
23,420 species of vascular plant have been recorded in South Africa, making it the sixth most species-rich country in the world and the most species-rich country on the African continent. Of these, 153 species are considered to be threatened. [4] Nine biomes have been described in South Africa: Fynbos, Succulent Karoo, desert, Nama Karoo, grassland, savanna, Albany thickets, the Indian Ocean coastal belt, and forests. [5]
The 2018 South African National Biodiversity Institute's National Biodiversity Assessment plant checklist lists 35,130 taxa in the phyla Anthocerotophyta (hornworts (6)), Anthophyta (flowering plants (33534)), Bryophyta (mosses (685)), Cycadophyta (cycads (42)), Lycopodiophyta (Lycophytes(45)), Marchantiophyta (liverworts (376)), Pinophyta (conifers (33)), and Pteridophyta (cryptogams (408)). [6]
One family is represented in the literature. Listed taxa include species, subspecies, varieties, and forms as recorded, some of which have subsequently been allocated to other taxa as synonyms, in which cases the accepted taxon is appended to the listing. Multiple entries under alternative names reflect taxonomic revision over time.
Family Celastraceae [6]
Genus Allocassine : [6]
Genus Elachyptera : [6]
Genus Elaeodendron : [6]
Genus Empleuridium : [6]
Genus Gymnosporia : [6]
Genus Hippocratea : [6]
Genus Loeseneriella : [6]
Genus Lydenburgia : [6]
Genus Maurocenia : [6]
Genus Mystroxylon : [6]
Genus Pleurostylia : [6]
Genus Prionostemma : [6]
Genus Pristimera : [6]
Genus Pseudosalacia : [6]
Genus Pterocelastrus : [6]
Genus Putterlickia : [6]
Genus Reissantia : [6]
Genus Robsonodendron : [6]
The Celastraceae are a family of 98 genera and 1,350 species of herbs, vines, shrubs and small trees, belonging to the order Celastrales. The great majority of the genera are tropical, with only Celastrus, Euonymus and Maytenus widespread in temperate climates, and Parnassia (bog-stars) found in alpine and arctic climates.
Gymnosporia is an Old World genus of plants, that comprise suffrutices, shrubs and trees. It was formerly considered congeneric with Maytenus, but more recent investigations separated it based on the presence of achyblasts and spines, alternate leaves or fascicles of leaves, an inflorescence that forms a dichasium, mostly unisexual flowers, and fruit forming a dehiscent capsule, with an aril on the seed. It is dioecious, with male and female flowers on separate plants.
Maytenus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Celastraceae. Members of the genus are distributed throughout Central and South America, Southeast Asia, Micronesia and Australasia, the Indian Ocean and Africa. They grow in a very wide variety of climates, from tropical to subpolar. The traditional circumscription of Maytenus is paraphyletic, so many species have been transferred to Denhamia, Gymnosporia, Monteverdia, and Tricerma.
Cassine is a genus of trees, of the plant family Celastraceae.