The Scrophulariaceae are a

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s, commonly known as the figwort family. The plants are annual and perennial herbs, as well as shrubs. Flowers have bilateral ( zygomorphic) or rarely radial ( actinomorphic) symmetry. The Scrophulariaceae have a

cosmopolitan distribution In biogeography, cosmopolitan distribution is the term for the range of a taxon that extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. Such a taxon, usually a species, is said to exhibit cosmopolitanism or cosmopolitism. The ext ...

, with the majority found in temperate areas, including tropical mountains. The family name is based on the name of the included genus '' Scrophularia'' L.

Taxonomy

In the past, it was treated as including about 275 genera and over 5,000 species, but its circumscription has been radically altered since numerous molecular

phylogenies A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spec ...

have shown the traditional broad circumscription to be grossly polyphyletic. Many genera have recently been transferred to other families within the Lamiales, notably

Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae, the plantain family, is a large, diverse family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as snapdragon and foxglove. It is unrelated to the banana-like fruit also called "plantain." In older cl ...

and

Orobanchaceae Orobanchaceae, the broomrapes, is a family of mostly parasitic plants of the order Lamiales, with about 90 genera and more than 2000 species. Many of these genera (e.g., ''Pedicularis'', ''Rhinanthus'', ''Striga'') were formerly included in the ...

, but also several new families. - on lin
here
/ref> Several families of the Lamiales have had their circumscriptions enlarged to accommodate genera transferred from the Scrophulariacae '' sensu lato''. Fischer (2004) considered the family to consist of three subfamilies – Antirrhinoideae, Gratioloideae, and Digitalidoideae. He further divided the Gratioloideae into five tribes – Gratioleae, Angeloniaeae, Stemodieae, Limoselleae, and Lindernieae. He then divided the Gratioleae, with its 16 genera (and about 182 species) into three subtribes – Caprarinae, Dopatrinae, and Gratiolinae. The Gratiolinae had 10 genera (about 121 species) distributed through temperate and tropical America – '' Bacopa'' and '' Mecardonia'' (formerly '' Herpestis''), '' Amphianthus'', ''

Gratiola ''Gratiola'' is a genus of plants in the family Plantaginaceae. Most species are known generally as hedgehyssops. The genus was previously included in the family Scrophulariaceae. Species include: *'' Gratiola amphiantha'' - pool sprite, snorkel ...

'', '' Sophronanthe'', '' Benjaminia'', '' Scoparia'', '' Boelkea'', '' Maeviella'', and '' Braunblequetia''. Many of these were transferred to the family Plantaginaceae, in the tribe Gratioleae.

Uses

The family includes some

medicinal plants Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including defense and protection ag ...

, among them: * '' Scrophularia'', figworts * '' Verbascum'', mulleins

Genera

The family Scrophulariaceae in its APG IV (2016) circumscription includes 62 genera and about 1830 known species. Texas Sage -- Leucophyllum frutescens

Leucophyllum frutescens (Purple Sage) W2 IMG 1125

Excluded genera

The following genera, traditionally included in the Scrophulariaceae, have been transferred to other families as indicated:

References

External links

Kew list of Scrophulariaceae

Flowers in Israel
verbascum.org
{{Authority control Lamiales families