Rosids – Malvids:Myrtales - Brassicales - Malvales - Sapindales

Spring 2012

Fig. 8.30

Core Eudicots: Rosids-MalvidsMalvids

Order MyrtalesMyrtaceae – Eucalyptus Onagraceae – Evening primroses

Order BrassicalesBrassicaceae* – Mustards

Order MalvalesMalvaceae* – Mallows, cotton, chocolate

Order SapindalesSapindaceae* – Maples, lycheeRutaceae – Citrus

*family required for recognition

Rosids-Malvids:

Myrtales: Myrtaceae(The Eucalyptus or Myrtle Family)

• Pantropical; highly diverse in warm temperate Australia• Trees or shrubs often with flaky bark• Diversity: 4,600-5,500 species in 144 genera• Flowers: Hypanthium well developed; sepals and petals 4-5;

stamens usually numerous; carpels 2-5, connate; ovary inferior to half-inferior; fruit usually a 1-many seeded berry or loculicidal capsule

• Significant features: Highly aromatic leaves & stems due to many terpenoid and resinous compounds; leaves entire with scattered pellucid dots containing these compounds

• Special uses: Eucalyptus important source of timber; many used as ornamentals; cloves (Syzygium aromaticum), allspice (Pimenta dioica); guava (Psidium guajava)

• Family not required

Myrtaceae: Eucalyptus• Foliage dimorphic (juvenile leaves are

rounded & stem-clasping; adult leaves are longer, willowy, and petioled)

• Flower buds covered by an operculum (fused sepals or petals or both) that falls off at anthesis

• Fruit a conical capsule (gumnut)• Primarily Australian; ca. 800 species, some cultivated in the U.S.

Rosids-Malvids:

Myrtales: Onagraceae(The Evening Primrose Family)

• Widely distributed, primarily in western North America and South America

• Mostly herbs, some shrubs, trees • Diversity: ca. 650 species in 17-22 genera• Flowers: Showy; sepals & petals (2-) 4 (-7);

stamens (4) 8, not incurved in bud, pollen with viscin threads; carpels usually 4; ovary inferior; long hypanthium; cruciform stigmas; fruit is a loculicidal capsule or berry

• Significant features: Tetramerous flowers!!• Special uses: Several ornamental herbs• Family not required

Onagraceae:

Clarkia!

Onagraceae: Oenothera

• Herbaceous• Leaves usually alternate• Hypanthium prolonged beyond the ovary• Corolla usually yellow (can be white or

pink)• Fruit a loculicidal capsule with many

seeds or nut-like, indehiscent and few-seeded

• Seeds naked

Onagraceae: Oenothera

Oenothera speciosa

Rosids-Malvids:

Brassicales: Brassicaceae(‘Cruciferae’ - The Mustard Family)

• Cosmopolitan, most diverse in the Mediterranean region, SW Asia, and western North America

• Herbs, shrubs or trees; (sometimes herbs); glucosinolates (mustard oils) present in all taxa

• Diversity: 3,400-3,700 species in 321-338 genera• Flowers: Sepals 4; petals 4 (cruciform), often clawed; stamens 6,

all + equal or usually 2 shorter and 4 longer (tetradynamous); carpels usually 2, connate, superior ovary; fruit a capsule, usually dehiscing by splitting into 2 valves leaving a persistent cross-wall, a silique or silicle

• Significant features: 4-merous flowers; often pioneers after disturbance

• Special uses: Many important food plants – cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi (Brassica oleracea), turnip (Brassica rapa), mustards (Brassica spp.), horseradish (Armoracia rusticana), and a wide range of ornamentals

• Required taxa: Brassica

Brassicaceae

cruciform petals silique - silicle

tetradynamous stamens

clawed petals

Arabidopsis thaliana

The model plant ofchoice for much ofmolecular biology.

-annuals or biennials-at least the lower leaves deeply pinnatifid, lyrate or pinnate-racemes without bracts-sepals erect during anthesis-petals yellow-ovary and silique with a prominent beak

Brassicaceae: Brassica

Brassicaoleracea

Rosids-Malvids:

Malvales: Malvaceae(The Mallow Family)

• Cosmopolitan• Trees, shrubs, lianas or herbs; vegetative parts with mucilage;

leaves often palmately veined and lobed (may be pinnately veined) or palmately compound; stellate hairs

• Diversity: 4,200 species in ca. 250 genera• Flowers: Sepals & petals 5, calyx valvate; stamens 5 to many,

monadelphous or polydelphous; carpels 2 to many, connate, superior ovary; fruit usually a loculicidal capsule, also berry, samara, schizocarp, or drupe

• Significant features: basic inflorescence unit a modified, 3-bracted cyme; flowers often associated with conspicuous bracts forming an epicalyx; nectaries of densely packed, multicellular glandular hairs, usually on sepals

• Special uses: cotton (Gossypium), cacao or chocolate (Theobroma), durian (Durio), balsa wood (Ochroma); many ornamentals, e.g. hibiscus (Hibiscus)

• Required taxa: Hibiscus, Gossypium

Polydelphous stamens Monadelphous stamens

Malvaceae

Theobroma cacao

Malvaceae: Hibiscus -herbs or shrubs-epicalyx of a circle of several bractlets-filament column bearing anthers for much of its length-styles distinct-fruit a 5-locular loculicidal capsule-seeds 2-several per locule, kidney-shaped

Malvaceae: Gossypium

-subshrubs to shrubs-epicalyx of 3-5-7 large, cordate, toothed bracts-styles united-fruit a 3-5-locular loculicidal capsule-seeds + globular, often with hair (lint)

Rosids-Malvids:

Sapindales: Sapindaceae(The Maple Family)

• Mainly tropical and subtropical, a few diverse in the temperate zone (e.g., Acer, Aesculus)

• Trees, shrubs or lianas with tendrils• Diversity: 1,450-1,580 species in 131-135 genera• Flowers: Unisexual or bisexual; sepals & petals 4-5, petals often

clawed, with more or less basal appendages adaxially; usually an extrastaminal nectar disk present; stamens 8 or fewer (rarely up to 12), filaments usually hairy or papillose; carpels 2 or 3, connate, superior ovary; fruit a capsule, berry, or schizocarp; seeds with a deep fold or pocket in the seed coat

• Significant features: presence of saponins in many• Special uses: lumber, maple syrup (Acer saccharum); many

ornamentals; tropical fruits (longan, lychee, rambutan)• Required taxa: Acer

Sapindaceae: Acer

-trees or sometimes shrubs-leaves opposite, simple and palmately lobed, rarely pinnately or palmately compound-calyx usually 5-lobed-petals 0 or as many as the calyx lobes-ovary with 2 connate, winged carpels, 2 ovules per carpel-fruit a schizocarp, splitting into 2 samaroid mericarps

Some treatments retain this as Aceraceae!

Rosids-Malvids:

Sapindales: Rutaceae(The Citrus Family)

• Nearly cosmopolitan, primarily tropical to subtropical• Trees or shrubs, sometimes with thorns, spines or prickles• Diversity: 1,800-1,900 species in 158-161 genera• Flowers: Sepals & petals 4 – 5; stamens 8-10; annular nectar

disk; carpels 4-5 to many, connate, superior ovary; axile placentation; fruit a drupe, capsule, samara, cluster of follicles or modified berry with leathery, glandular rind (i.e., hesperidium in Citrus).

• Significant features: Aromatic oils chemically complex; simple or compound leaves with pellucid dots containing aromatic ethereal oils

• Special uses: many desirable fruits - oranges, lemons, limes, tangerine, grapefruit (Citrus), kumquat (Fortunella), several ornamentals, e.g. cork tree (Phellodendron)

• Family not required

Pellucid dots

Rutaceae: Citrus

-leaves apparently simple, of 1 leaflet-ovary compound, entire or only slightly lobed-fruit a hesperidium