Sapindaceae

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Sapindaceae
Lychee.jpg
Litchi chinensis leaves and fruit
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Sapindales
Family: Sapindaceae
Juss.
Subfamilies [1]
Diversity
1,900+ species in ca. 140 genera
Sapindaceae Distribution.svg
The range of Sapindaceae

The Sapindaceae are a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales known as the soapberry family. It contains 138 genera [2] and 1,858 accepted species. Examples include horse chestnut, maples, ackee and lychee.

The Sapindaceae occur in temperate to tropical regions, many in laurel forest habitat, throughout the world. Many are laticiferous, i.e. they contain latex, a milky sap, and many contain mildly toxic saponins with soap-like qualities in either the foliage and/or the seeds, or roots.[ citation needed ] The largest genera are Serjania , Paullinia , Allophylus and Acer .

Description

Plants of this family have a variety of habits, from trees to herbaceous plants to lianas. The leaves of the tropical genera are usually spirally alternate, while those of the temperate maples ( Acer), Aesculus , and a few other genera are opposite. They are most often pinnately compound, [3] but are palmately compound in Aesculus, and simply palmate in Acer. The petiole has a swollen base and lacks stipules. [4] Some genera and species have laurel forest foliage due to convergent evolution.[ citation needed ]

Dodonaea viscosa flowers Dodonaea viscosa (Hopbush) W2 IMG 1899.jpg
Dodonaea viscosa flowers

The flowers are small and unisexual, or functionally unisexual, though plants may be either dioecious or monoecious. They are usually found in cymes grouped in panicles. They most often have four or five petals and sepals (petals are absent in Dodonaea ). The stamens range from four to 10, usually on a nectar disc between the petals and stamens, their filaments are often hairy. The most frequent number is eight, in two rings of four. The gynoecium contains two or three carpels, sometimes up to six. The usually single style has a lobed stigma. Most often they are pollinated by birds or insects, with a few species pollinated by wind. [4]

Ripe fruits may be fleshy or dry. They may be nuts, berries, drupes, schizocarps, capsules ( Bridgesia ), or samaras (Acer). The embryos are bent or coiled, without endosperm in the seed, and frequently with an aril. [4]

Classification

Rambutan fruits Rambutan Nephelium lappaceum Whaldener Endo.jpg
Rambutan fruits

The Sapindaceae are related to the Rutaceae, and both are usually placed in an order Sapindales or Rutales, depending on whether they are kept separate and which name is used for the order. [4] The most basal member appears to be Xanthoceras .[ citation needed ] Some authors formerly maintained some or all of Hippocastanaceae and Aceraceae, however this resulted in paraphyly. [4] [5] The former Ptaeroxylaceae, now placed in Rutaceae, were sometimes placed in Sapindaceae. [6] The family is divided into four subfamilies, Dodonaeoideae (about 38 genera), Sapindoideae (about 114 genera), Hippocastanoideae (5 genera) and Xanthoceroideae (1 genus). The largest genera are Serjania (about 220 species), Paullinia (about 180 species), and Allophylus (about 200 species) in the tropical Sapindoideae and Acer (about 110 species) in the temperate Hippocastanoideae. [7] :294

The largely temperate genera formerly separated in the families Aceraceae (Acer, Dipteronia ) and Hippocastanaceae ( Aesculus , Billia , Handeliodendron ) were included within a more broadly circumscribed Sapindaceae by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. [8] Recent research has confirmed the inclusion of these genera in the Sapindaceae. [4] [5]

Notable species

The Sapindaceae include many species of economically valuable tropical fruit, including the lychee, longan, pitomba, guinip/mamoncillo, korlan, rambutan, pulasan, and ackee. Other products include guaraná, soapberries, and maple syrup.

Some species of maple and buckeye are valued for their wood, while several other genera, such as Koelreuteria , Cardiospermum , and Ungnadia , are popular ornamentals. Schleichera trijuga is the source of Indian macassar oil. Saponins extracted from the drupe of Sapindus species are effective surfactants and are used commercially in cosmetics and detergents. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sapindales</span> Order of flowering plants

Sapindales is an order of flowering plants. Well-known members of Sapindales include citrus; maples, horse-chestnuts, lychees and rambutans; mangos and cashews; frankincense and myrrh; mahogany and neem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meliaceae</span> Family of plants commonly known as the Mahogany family

Meliaceae, the mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs in the order Sapindales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rutaceae</span> Family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales

The Rutaceae is a family, commonly known as the rue or citrus family, of flowering plants, usually placed in the order Sapindales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aceraceae</span> Family of maples

Aceraceae were recognized as a family of flowering plants also called the maple family. They contain two to four genera, depending upon the circumscription, of some 120 species of trees and shrubs. A common characteristic is that the leaves are opposite, and the fruit a schizocarp.

<i>Melicoccus bijugatus</i> Species of plant

Melicoccus bijugatus is a fruit-bearing tree in the soapberry family Sapindaceae, native or naturalized across the New World tropics including South and Central America, and parts of the Caribbean. Its stone-bearing fruits, commonly called quenepa or guinep, are edible. These fruits have various other names such as Limoncillo, Bajan ackee, Spanish lime or mamoncillo, among numerous other common names.

<i>Dipteronia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Dipteronia is a genus with two living and one extinct species in the soapberry family Sapindaceae. The living species are native to central and southern China, The fossil species has been found in Middle Paleocene to Early Oligocene sediments of North America and China.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ackee</span> Species of plant

The ackee, also known as acki, akee, or ackee apple, is a fruit of the Sapindaceae (soapberry) family, as are the lychee and the longan. It is native to tropical West Africa. The scientific name honours Captain William Bligh who took the fruit from Jamaica to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew, England, in 1793. The English common name is derived from the West African Akan akye fufo.

<i>Aesculus</i> Flowering genus in family Sapindaceae

The genus Aesculus, with species called buckeye and horse chestnut, comprises 13–19 species of flowering plants in the family Sapindaceae. They are trees and shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, with six species native to North America and seven to 13 species native to Eurasia. Several hybrids occur. Aesculus exhibits a classical Arcto-Tertiary distribution.

<i>Paullinia</i> Genus of flowering plants

Paullinia is a genus of flowering shrubs, small trees and lianas in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae and typical of tribe Paullinieae. It is native to tropical South America, Central America and the Caribbean.

<i>Sapindus</i> Genus of flowering plants in the lychee family Sapindaceae

Sapindus is a genus of about thirteen species of shrubs and small trees in the lychee family, Sapindaceae and tribe Sapindeae. It is native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the world. The genus includes both deciduous and evergreen species. Members of the genus are commonly known as soapberries or soapnuts because the fruit pulp is used to make soap. The generic name is derived from the Latin words sapo, meaning "soap", and indicus, meaning "of India".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burseraceae</span> Family of flowering plants

The Burseraceae are a moderate-sized family of 17-19 genera and about 540 species of woody flowering plants. The actual numbers given in taxonomic sources differ according to taxonomic revision at the time of writing. The Burseraceae are also known as the torchwood family, the frankincense and myrrh family, or simply the incense tree family. The family includes both trees and shrubs; its species are native to tropical regions of Africa, Asia, Australasia, and the Americas.

<i>Aesculus flava</i> Species of tree

Aesculus flava, also known commonly as the common buckeye, the sweet buckeye, and the yellow buckeye, is a species of deciduous tree in the subfamily Hippocastanoideae of the family Sapindaceae. The species is native to the Ohio Valley and Appalachian Mountains of the Eastern United States. It grows in mesophytic forest or floodplains, generally in acid to circumneutral soil, reaching a height of 20m to 48m.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maple</span> Genus of flowering plants

Acer is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae, along with lychee and horse chestnut. There are approximately 132 species, most of which are native to Asia, with a number also appearing in Europe, northern Africa, and North America. Only one species, Acer laurinum, extends to the Southern Hemisphere. The type species of the genus is the sycamore maple, Acer pseudoplatanus, the most common maple species in Europe. Maples usually have easily recognizable palmate leaves and distinctive winged fruits. The closest relatives of the maples are the horse chestnuts. Maple syrup is made from the sap of some maple species. It is one of the most common genera of trees in Asia. Many maple species are grown in gardens where they are valued for their autumn colour.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hippocastanoideae</span> Subfamily of flowering plants

Hippocastanoideae is a subfamily of flowering plants in the soapberry family Sapindaceae. The group was formerly treated as the separate families Aceraceae and Hippocastanaceae. Molecular phylogenetic research by Harrington et al. (2005) has shown that while both the Aceraceae and Hippocastanaceae are monophyletic in themselves, their removal from the Sapindaceae sensu lato would leave Sapindaceae sensu stricto as a paraphyletic group, particularly with reference to the genus Xanthoceras.

<i>Dipteronia sinensis</i> Species of flowering plant

Dipteronia sinensis is a plant species in the genus Dipteronia, endemic to mainland China, and regarded in the soapberry family Sapindaceae sensu lato after Angiosperm Phylogeny Group and more recently ), or traditionally by several authors in Aceraceae, related to the maples.

<i>Aesculus chinensis</i> Species of flowering plant

Aesculus chinensis, the Chinese horse chestnut or Chinese buckeye, is a deciduous temperate tree species in the genus Aesculus found across China. It was first successfully introduced to Britain in 1912 by plant collector William Purdom, who collected six young plants from the grounds of a temple in the western hills of Beijing, and brought them back to Veitch's Nursery in Coombe Hill near London. Purdom's correspondence regarding this event are held in the archives of the Arnold Arboretum. One plant was sent to the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and two to the Arnold Arboretum in Boston. The original tree at Kew no longer exists but a young tree grafted from the original now grows in the Rhododendron Dell.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sapindoideae</span> Subfamily of flowering plants

Sapindoideae is a subfamily of flowering plants in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae. It includes a number of fruit trees, including lychees, longans, rambutans, and quenepas.

References

  1. "Sapindaceae Juss., nom. cons". Germplasm Resources Information Network . United States Department of Agriculture. 2003-01-17. Archived from the original on 2009-05-06. Retrieved 2009-04-11.
  2. "The Plant List:Sapindaceae". Royal Botanic Gardens Kew and Missouri Botanic Garden. Retrieved 5 April 2017.
  3. Buerki, Sven; Callmander, Martin W.; Acevedo-Rodriguez, Pedro; LowryII, Porter P.; Munzinger, Jérôme; Bailey, Paul; Maurin, Olivier; Brewer, Grace E.; Epitawalage, Niroshini; Baker, William J.; Forest, Félix. "An Updated Infra-Familial Classification of Sapindaceae Based on Targeted Enrichment Data (2021)". American Journal of Botany. 108. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Singh, Gurjaran (2004). Plant Systematics: An Integrated Approach. Enfield, New Hampshire: Science Publishers. pp. 438–440. ISBN   1-57808-342-7.
  5. 1 2 Harrington, Mark G.; Karen J. Edwards; Sheila A. Johnson; Mark W. Chase; Paul A. Gadek (2005). "Phylogenetic inference in Sapindaceae sensu lato using plastid matK and rbcL DNA sequences". Syst Bot . 30 (2): 366–382. doi:10.1600/0363644054223549. S2CID   85868684.
  6. Watson, L. & Dallwitz, M.J. (2007). "Sapindaceae Juss". The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Retrieved 2007-08-27.
  7. V.H. Heywood; R.K. Brummit; A. Culham; O. Seberg (2007). Flowering plant families of the world. Firefly Books Ltd. ISBN   978-1-55407-206-4.
  8. Stevens, P.F. (2015) [1st. Pub. 2001], Angiosperm Phylogeny Website , retrieved 28 January 2021
  9. Stoffels, Karin (September 2008). "Soap Nut Saponins Create Powerful Natural Surfactant". Personal Care Magazine. Jeen International Corporation. Archived from the original on 2011-06-15.