''Coriaria'' is the sole genus in the family Coriariaceae, which was described by Linnaeus in 1753.
[Tropicos, Coriaria L.]
/ref> It includes 14 speciestree
In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...
s, shrub
A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...
s and subshrub
A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or undershrub is either a small shrub (e.g. prostrate shrubs) or a perennial that is largely herbaceous but slightly woody at the base (e.g. garden pink and florist's chrysanthemum). The term is often interch ...
s, with a widespread but disjunct distribution across warm temperate regions of the world, occurring as far apart as the Mediterranean region, southern and eastern Asia, New Zealand (where some are alpine species), the Pacific Ocean islands, and Central and South America.[Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families]
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The leaves
A leaf (: leaves) is a principal appendage of the stem of a vascular plant, usually borne laterally above ground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, stem, ...
are opposite or in whorls, simple, long, without stipules. The flower
Flowers, also known as blooms and blossoms, are the reproductive structures of flowering plants ( angiosperms). Typically, they are structured in four circular levels, called whorls, around the end of a stalk. These whorls include: calyx, m ...
s are borne in raceme
A raceme () or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate growth, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are ...
s 2–30 cm long, each flower small, greenish, with five small petals. The fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants (angiosperms) that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which angiosperms disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in particular have long propaga ...
is a small and shiny black (occasionally yellow or red) berry
A berry is a small, pulpy, and often edible fruit. Typically, berries are juicy, rounded, brightly colored, sweet, sour or tart, and do not have a stone or pit although many pips or seeds may be present. Common examples of berries in the cul ...
-like swollen corolla, highly poison
A poison is any chemical substance that is harmful or lethal to living organisms. The term is used in a wide range of scientific fields and industries, where it is often specifically defined. It may also be applied colloquially or figurati ...
ous in several species, though those of ''C. terminalis'' are edible. At least a few members of this genus are non-legume nitrogen fixers.
The Mediterranean species ''C. myrtifolia'' is known as redoul, and the several New Zealand species are known by the Māori name of tutu.
The South American species ''C. ruscifolia'' is an evergreen climber known as deu or huique, and is used in southern Chile to make rat poison.
Species
''Coriaria'' comprises the following species:
Hybrids
The following hybrids have been described:
Fossil record
Coriariaceae fossils
A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
as pollen
Pollen is a powdery substance produced by most types of flowers of seed plants for the purpose of sexual reproduction. It consists of pollen grains (highly reduced Gametophyte#Heterospory, microgametophytes), which produce male gametes (sperm ...
and seeds, are known from the Miocene
The Miocene ( ) is the first epoch (geology), geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words (', "less") and (', "new") and mea ...
of Europe. The discovery of pollen grains from Early Campanian (ca. 82 Mya) deposits in Antarctica, which were described as ''Coriaripites goodii'', expand the family’s fossil record and represent the so far oldest fossil of the order Cucurbitales.
References
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Cucurbitales genera
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus