The Santalales are an order of flowering plants with a cosmopolitan distribution, but heavily concentrated in tropical and subtropical regions. It derives its name from its type genus Santalum (sandalwood). Mistletoe is the common name for a number of parasitic plants within the order.
Loranthaceae, commonly known as the showy mistletoes, is a family of flowering plants. It consists of about 75 genera and 1,000 species of woody plants, many of them hemiparasites. The three terrestrial species are Nuytsia floribunda, Atkinsonia ligustrina, and Gaiadendron punctatum Loranthaceae are primarily xylem parasites, but their haustoria may sometimes tap the phloem, while Tristerix aphyllus is almost holoparasitic. For a more complete description of the Australian Loranthaceae, see Flora of Australia online., for the Malesian Loranthaceae see Flora of Malesia.
The Santalaceae, sandalwoods, are a widely distributed family of flowering plants which, like other members of Santalales, are partially parasitic on other plants. Its flowers are bisexual or, by abortion, unisexual. Modern treatments of the Santalaceae include the family Viscaceae (mistletoes), previously considered distinct.
Ceratophyllaceae is a cosmopolitan family of flowering plants including one living genus commonly found in ponds, marshes, and quiet streams in tropical and in temperate regions. It is the only extant family in the order Ceratophyllales. Species are commonly called coontails or hornworts, although hornwort is also used for unrelated plants of the division Anthocerotophyta.
Geraniaceae is a family of flowering plants placed in the order Geraniales. The family name is derived from the genus Geranium. The family includes both the genus Geranium and the garden plants called geraniums, which modern botany classifies as genus Pelargonium, along with other related genera.
Zosteraceae is a family of marine perennial flowering plants found in temperate and subtropical coastal waters, with the highest diversity located around Korea and Japan. Most seagrasses complete their entire life cycle under water, having filamentous pollen especially adapted to dispersion in an aquatic environment and ribbon-like leaves that lack stomata. Seagrasses are herbaceous and have prominent creeping rhizomes. A distinctive characteristic of the family is the presence of characteristic retinacules, which are present in all species except members of Zostera subgenus Zostera.
Elaeocarpaceae is a family of flowering plants. The family contains approximately 615 species of trees and shrubs in 12 genera. The largest genera are Elaeocarpus, with about 350 species, and Sloanea, with about 120.
The family Pandaceae consists of three genera that were formerly recognized in the Euphorbiaceae. Those are:
Juncaginaceae is a family of flowering plants, recognized by most taxonomists for the past few decades. It is also known as the arrowgrass family. It includes 3 genera with a total of 34 known species.
Elatinaceae is a family of flowering plants with ca 35 species in two genera: Elatine and Bergia. The Elatine are mostly aquatic herbs, and the Bergia are subshrubs to shrubs. Elatine species are widely distributed throughout the world from temperate to tropical zones, with its greatest diversity found in temperate zones. Bergia is found in temperate to tropical Eurasia and Africa, with two tropical and one tropical to temperate species in the Americas. The center for biodiversity of Bergia is the Old World tropics, and this is also the center for biodiversity for the family. Neither genus is found in arctic ecosystems.
Trimeniaceae is a family of flowering plants recognized by most taxonomists, at least for the past several decades. It is a small family of one genus, Trimenia, with eight known species of woody plants, bearing essential oils. The family is subtropical to tropical and found in Southeast Asia, eastern Australia and on several Pacific Islands.
Myrothamnus is a genus of flowering plants, consisting of two species of small xerophytic shrubs, in the southern parts of tropical Africa and in Madagascar. Myrothamnus is recognized as the only genus in the family Myrothamnaceae.
The Muntingiaceae are a family of flowering plants, belonging to the rosid order Malvales. The family consists of three genera: Dicraspidia, Muntingia, and Neotessmannia, each with a single species. They are woody plants of the tropical regions of America. The older Cronquist system placed these genera in the family Tiliaceae, with which they share morphological similarities, but have no evolutionary affinity. Muntingia calabura is widely introduced in tropical regions, because of its edible fruit. Dicraspidia donnell-smithii and Neotessmannia uniflora are the other two species in the family, the latter only known from herbarium specimens.
Staphyleaceae is a small family of flowering plants in the order Crossosomatales, native to Europe, temperate and tropical Asia and the Americas. The largest genus Staphylea, which gives the family its name, contains the "bladdernut" trees. The family includes three genera with more than 40 known species.
Tecophilaeaceae is a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots. It consists of nine genera with a total of 27 species.
Olacaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Santalales. They are woody plants, native throughout the tropical regions of the world. As of July 2021, the circumscription of the family varies; some sources maintain a broad family, others split it into seven segregate families.
Peraceae Klotzsch is a family of flowering plants in the eudicot order Malpighiales. The family was segregated from the Euphorbiaceae by Johann Friedrich Klotzsch in 1859, and its uniqueness was affirmed by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew's Euphorbiaceae expert, Airy Shaw.
Arjona is a genus of flowering plants in the family Schoepfiaceae. They are hemiparasites.
Quinchamalium is a genus of flowering plant in the family Schoepfiaceae, with a single species Quinchamalium chilense, native to Chile, Argentina, Peru and Bolivia. Depending on the latitude, it can be found from sea level to 3,800 m in altitude.
Romina Vidal-Russell is an Argentinean botanist who works in the areas of phytogeography, phylogeny, and parasitic plants, and on which she has written extensively. Her papers on the phylogeny of parasitic plants are cited on the APG website, and elsewhere and her collaborations are international. She currently works at the National University of Comahue in Argentina. She earned a Ph.D. at SIUC with Daniel L. Nickrent as supervisor.
