Sphenoclea | |
---|---|
S. zeylanica | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Asterids |
Order: | Solanales |
Family: | Sphenocleaceae T.Baskerv. |
Genus: | Sphenoclea Gaertn. |
Species | |
Sphenoclea is a genus of succulent erect annual herbs. They occur in damp habitats throughout the tropics.
There are two species, [1] S. zeylanica and S. pongatium . The genus is placed alone in family Sphenocleaceae. The position of the family is somewhat uncertain; it is now usually placed in Solanales, but it has previously been placed in Asterales, especially near Campanulaceae, and there is some evidence to support this.
The Salicaceae is the willow family of flowering plants. The traditional family included the willows, poplar, aspen, and cottonwoods. Genetic studies summarized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) have greatly expanded the circumscription of the family to contain 56 genera and about 1220 species, including the Scyphostegiaceae and many of the former Flacourtiaceae.
The Clusiaceae or GuttiferaeJuss. (1789) are a family of plants including 13 genera and ca 750 species. Several former members of Clusiacae are now placed in Calophyllaceae and Hypericaceae. They are mostly trees and shrubs, with milky sap and fruits or capsules for seeds. The family is primarily tropical. More so than many plant families, it shows large variation in plant morphology. According to the APG III, this family belongs to the order Malpighiales.
The Ulmaceae are a family of flowering plants that includes the elms, and the zelkovas. Members of the family are widely distributed throughout the north temperate zone, and have a scattered distribution elsewhere except for Australasia.
Hydrocharitaceae is a flowering plant family including 16 known genera with a total of ca 135 known species, that including a number of species of aquatic plant, for instance the tape-grasses, the well known Canadian waterweed, and frogbit.
The Combretaceae, often called the white mangrove family, are a family of flowering plants in the order Myrtales. The family includes about 530 species of trees, shrubs, and lianas in ca 10 genera. The family includes the leadwood tree, Combretum imberbe. Three genera, Conocarpus, Laguncularia, and Lumnitzera, grow in mangrove habitats (mangals). The Combretaceae are widespread in the subtropics and tropics. Some members of this family produce useful construction timber, such as idigbo from Terminalia ivorensis. The commonly cultivated Quisqualis indica is now placed in the genus Combretum. Many plants in the former Quisqualis genus contain the excitotoxin quisqualic acid, a potent AMPA agonist.
The Potamogetonaceae, commonly referred to as the pondweed family, is an aquatic family of monocotyledonous flowering plants. The roughly 110 known species are divided over six genera. The largest genus in the family by far is Potamogeton, which contains about 100 species.
The family Pandaceae consists of three genera that were formerly recognized in the Euphorbiaceae. Those are:
The Calycanthaceae are a small family of flowering plants in the order Laurales. The family contains three genera and only 10 known species, restricted to warm temperate and tropical regions:
Achariaceae is a family of flowering plants consisting of 32-33 genera with about 155 species of tropical herbs, shrubs, and trees. The APG IV system has greatly expanded the scope of the family by including many genera previously classified in Flacourtiaceae. Molecular data strongly support the inclusion of this family in the order Malpighiales.
Chrysobalanaceae is a family of flowering plants, consisting of trees and shrubs in 27 genera and about 700 species of pantropical distribution with a centre of diversity in the Amazon. Some of the species contain silica in their bodies for rigidity and so the mesophyll often has sclerenchymatous idioblasts. The widespread species Chrysobalanus icaco produces a plum-like fruit and the plant is commonly known as the coco plum.
Ctenolophon is the only genus in the flowering plant family Ctenolophonaceae. It has two recognized species:
Dichapetalaceae is a family of flowering plants, consisting of 3 genera and about 170 species. Members of this family are trees, shrubs or lianas found in tropical and subtropical regions of the world.
Erythroxylaceae is a family of flowering trees and shrubs consisting of 4 genera and 271 species. The four genera are AneulophusBenth., ErythroxylumP.Browne, NectaropetalumEngl., and PinacopodiumExell & Mendonça. The best-known species are the coca plants, including the species Erythroxylum coca, the source of the substance coca.
Trigoniaceae is a family of flowering plants, consisting of 28 species in five genera. It is a tropical family found in Madagascar, Southeast Asia, Central and South America.
Ruppia, also known as the widgeonweeds, ditch grasses or widgeon grass, is the only extant genus in the family Ruppiaceae, with eight known species. These are aquatic plants widespread over much of the world. The genus name honours Heinrich Bernhard Rupp, a German botanist (1688-1719). They are widespread outside of frigid zones and the tropics.
Cymodoceaceae is a family of flowering plants, sometimes known as the "manatee-grass family", which includes only marine species.
Tapisciaceae is a family of flowering plants. Until recently it had been abandoned by taxonomists, and it was not recognised in the APG II system of 2003. In the APG III system, however, it has been reinstated to encompass the two genera Tapiscia and Huertea, with a total of six known species.
Corynocarpus is the only genus of plants in the family Corynocarpaceae and includes five species. It is native to New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand, New Caledonia, and Vanuatu.
Calophyllaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Malpighiales and is recognized by the APG III system of classification. Most of the 14 genera and 475 species included in this family were previously recognized in the tribe Calophylleae of the family Clusiaceae. The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group determined that splitting this clade of genera off into their own family was necessary.
Euphronia is a genus of three species of shrubs native to northern South America and is the only genus in the family Euphroniaceae. It was previously classified in the Vochysiaceae family and elsewhere due to its unique floral features, but the APG III system of 2009 recognized Euphroniaceae as distinct and placed Euphronia in it. Based on molecular data from the rbcL gene, it is sister to the Chrysobalanaceae.