The Cichorioideae are a subfamily of the

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

Asteraceae The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Asterales. Commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite, or sunflower family, Compositae ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. They include all forbs (flowering plants without a woody stem), grasses and grass-like plants, a vast majority of ...

s. Familiar members of Cichorioideae include

lettuce Lettuce (''Lactuca sativa'') is an annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a leaf vegetable, but sometimes for its stem and seeds. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is also seen in other kinds of foo ...

dandelion ''Taraxacum'' () is a large genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, which consists of species commonly known as dandelions. The scientific and hobby study of the genus is known as taraxacology. The genus is native to Eurasia and Nor ...

chicory Common chicory ('' Cichorium intybus'') is a somewhat woody, perennial herbaceous plant of the family Asteraceae, usually with bright blue flowers, rarely white or pink. Native to the Old World, it has been introduced to North America and Aust ...

and ''

Gazania ''Gazania'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, native to Southern Africa.Per Ola Karis. 2007. "Arctotideae" pages 200-207. In: Klaus Kubitzki (series editor); Joachim W. Kadereit and Charles Jeffrey (volume editors). ''The ...

'' species. The subfamily comprises about 240

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial ...

and about 2900

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of ...

. It is heterogeneous and hard to characterize except with molecular characters.

Taxonomy

The subfamily as understood in 1998 turned out to be

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

, based on

studies Study or studies may refer to: General * Education **Higher education * Clinical trial * Experiment * Observational study * Research * Study skills, abilities and approaches applied to learning Other * Study (art), a drawing or series of drawin ...

DNA sequence DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. Th ...

s, so a number of

tribes The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confl ...

were moved to new

subfamilies In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end subfamily botanical names with "-oideae", and zoologi ...

. Names for the new subfamilies were published in 2002. In 2004, 2007, and 2008,

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

studies further clarified relationships within Cichorioideae.Sterling C. Keeley, Zac H. Forsman, and Raymund Chan. 2007. "A phylogeny of the "evil tribe" (Vernonieae: Compositae) reveals Old/New World long distance dispersal: Support from separate and combined congruent datasets (''trn''L-F, ''ndh''F, ITS)". ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 44(1):89-103.Jose L. Panero and Vicki A. Funk. 2008. "The value of sampling anomalous taxa in phylogenetic studies: Major clades of the Asteraceae revealed". ''Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution'' 47(2):757–782. Major

works Works may refer to: People * Caddy Works (1896–1982), American college sports coach * Samuel Works (c. 1781–1868), New York politician Albums * '' ''Works'' (Pink Floyd album)'', a Pink Floyd album from 1983 * ''Works'', a Gary Burton album ...

on Asteraceae were published in 2007 and 2009. These were the only comprehensive treatments of the family since 1994.Kåre Bremer (with the assistance of Arne A. Anderberg, Per Ola Karis, Bertil Nordenstam, Johannes Lundberg, and Olof Ryding). 1994. ''Asteraceae: cladistics and classification''. Timber Press: Oregon, USA. . In the 2007 book, ''

Gundelia ''Gundelia'' is a low to high (20–100 cm) thistle-like perennial herbaceous plant with latex, spiny compound inflorescences, reminiscent of teasles and eryngos, that contain cream, yellow, greenish, pink, purple or redish-purple disk flo ...

'' and ''

Warionia ''Warionia'' is a genus in the tribe Cichorieae within the family Asteraceae. The only known species is ''Warionia saharae'', an endemic of Algeria and Morocco, and it is locally known in the Berber language as afessas, abessas or tazart n-� ...

'' were segregated from the tribe

Cichorieae The Cichorieae (also called Lactuceae) are a tribe in the plant family Asteraceae that includes 93 genera, more than 1,600 sexually reproductive species and more than 7,000 apomictic species. They are found primarily in temperate regions of the E ...

to form the tribe Gundelieae. ''

Eremothamnus ''Eremothamnus marlothianus'' is a species of shrub in the family Asteraceae, the only species in the genus ''Eremothamnus''. It is native to the coastal desert of Namibia. It is a small shrub with spiny leaves. Taxonomy and systematics The g ...

'', '' Hoplophyllum'', ''

Heterolepis ''Heterolepis'' is a genus of flowering plants in the sunflower family.Per Ola Karis. 2007. "Arctotideae" pages 200-207. In: Klaus Kubitzki (series editor); Joachim W. Kadereit and Charles Jeffrey (volume editors). ''The Families and Genera o ...

'', and '' Platycarpha'' were placed ''

incertae sedis ' () or ''problematica'' is a term used for a taxonomic group where its broader relationships are unknown or undefined. Alternatively, such groups are frequently referred to as "enigmatic taxa". In the system of open nomenclature, uncertain ...

'' in tribe Arctotideae, while ''

Distephanus ''Distephanus'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae.Harold E. Robinson. 2007. "Vernonieae" pages 149-174. In: Klaus Kubitzki (series editor); Joachim W. Kadereit and Charles Jeffrey (volume editors). ''The Families and Genera ...

'', ''

Trichospira ''Trichospira'' is a genus of flowering plants in the evil tribe within the daisy family The family Asteraceae, alternatively Compositae, consists of over 32,000 known species of flowering plants in over 1,900 genera within the order Ast ...

'', '' Moquinia'', and '' Pseudostifftia'' were placed in the tribe

Vernonieae Vernonieae is a tribe of about 1300 species of plants in the aster family. They are mostly found in the tropics and warmer temperate areas, both in the Americas and the Old World. They are mostly herbaceous plants or shrubs, although there is ...

.Klaus Kubitzki (series editor); Joachim W. Kadereit and Charles Jeffrey (volume editors). ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' volume VIII. Springer-Verlag: Berlin; Heidelberg, Germany. Some of this

classification Classification is a process related to categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated and understood. Classification is the grouping of related facts into classes. It may also refer to: Business, organizat ...

was not supported by

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

studies that came out later. For example, the tribe Arctotideae was only weakly supported as

monophyletic In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic ...

, but its two subtribes, Arctotidinae and Gorteriinae, were strongly supported. In the 2009 book, the Gundelieae were sunk into the

. The new tribe Platycarpheae was recognized, as well as the tribes Eremothamneae and Moquinieae. ''Heterolepis'' was placed in the Arctotideae, at least provisionally. ''Distephanus'' was not placed in the Moquinieae or the Vernonieae, but is closely related to them.Vicki A. Funk, Alfonso Susanna, Tod F. Stuessy, and Randall J. Bayer. 2009. ''Systematics, Evolution and Biogeography of the Compositae''. IAPT (International Association for Plant Taxonomy). (see ''External links'' below). ''

'' was placed in the

, but its inclusion there is in doubt.

Phylogeny

The following

phylogeny 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 spe ...

is from ''Systematics, Evolution and Biogeography of the Compositae'', except the tribe Gundelieae is recognized and the genus ''

'' is now included in Vernonieae.

References

External links

Classification (compositae book, chapter 11
At
The International Compositae Alliance

Cichorioideae
At
Tree of Life

Phylogenetic Analysis of the Cichorioideae (Asteraceae), with Emphasis on the Mutisieae
* At
Uniprot Taxonomy
At
Uniprot
* * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q133142 Asterales subfamilies