Elaeaocarpaceae is a

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 ...

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. The family contains approximately 615

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 ...

tree 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, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s and shrubs in 12

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 ...

."Elaeocarpaceae" In: Klaus Kubitzki (ed.). ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' vol. VI. Springer-Verlag: Berlin;Heidelberg, Germany. (2004). The largest genera are ''

Elaeocarpus ''Elaeocarpus'' is a genus of nearly five hundred species of flowering plants in the family Elaeocarpaceae native to the Western Indian Ocean, Tropical and Subtropical Asia, and the Pacific. Plants in the genus ''Elaeocarpus'' are trees or shrubs ...

'', with about 350 species, and ''

Sloanea ''Sloanea'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Elaeocarpaceae, comprising about 150 species. Species include: * '' Sloanea acutiflora'' Uittien * '' Sloanea assamica'' Rehder & E. Wilson * '' Sloanea australis'' Benth. & F.Muell., an ...

'', with about 120. The species of Elaeocarpaceae are mostly

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

and subtropical, with a few

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout t ...

-zone species. Most species are

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has foliage that remains green and functional through more than one growing season. This also pertains to plants that retain their foliage only in warm climates, and contrasts with deciduous plants, which ...

. They are found in

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

, Australia,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Great ...

, and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the souther ...

. Plants in this family have

simple Simple or SIMPLE may refer to: * Simplicity, the state or quality of being simple Arts and entertainment * ''Simple'' (album), by Andy Yorke, 2008, and its title track * "Simple" (Florida Georgia Line song), 2018 * "Simple", a song by John ...

leaves, usually arranged alternately, sometimes in opposite pairs or whorled often clustered at the ends of the branches, usually with a toothed edge but sometimes reduced to scales. The flowers are arranged in leaf

axil A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ...

s, singly or in groups and are radially symmetrical. The flowers usually have both male and female organs, four or five

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined ...

s and four or five

petal Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corolla''. Petals are usuall ...

s. In some genera there are twice as many

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filam ...

s as petals and in others there may be many stamens. In most species the anther is much longer than the

filament The word filament, which is descended from Latin ''filum'' meaning "thread", is used in English for a variety of thread-like structures, including: Astronomy * Galaxy filament, the largest known cosmic structures in the universe * Solar filament, ...

of the stamen. The fruit is a capsule, a

drupe In botany, a drupe (or stone fruit) is an indehiscent fruit in which an outer fleshy part ( exocarp, or skin, and mesocarp, or flesh) surrounds a single shell (the ''pit'', ''stone'', or '' pyrena'') of hardened endocarp with a seed (''kerne ...

or a

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 are strawberries, rasp ...

. A

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 ...

of the family, based on

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 was published in 2006.Darren M. Crayn, Maurizio Rossetto, and David J. Maynard. 2006. "Molecular phylogeny and dating reveals an Oligo-Miocene radiation of dry-adapted shrubs (former Tremandraceae) from rainforest tree progenitors (Elaeocarpaceae) in Australia". ''American Journal of Botany'' 93(9):1328-1342.

Genera

Twelve genera of Elaeocarpaceae are accepted by

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants ...

as at August 2021: * ''

Aceratium ''Aceratium'' is a genus of about 20 species of trees and shrubs of eastern Malesia and Australasia from the family Elaeocarpaceae. In Australia they are commonly known as carabeens. They grow naturally in rainforests, as large shrubs to unders ...

DC. Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candolle ...

* '' Aristotelia'' L'Hér. * '' Crinodendron'' Molina * ''

Dubouzetia ''Dubouzetia'' is a genus of about eleven species known to science, growing from shrubs up to large trees, in Papuasia and Australasia and constituting part of the plant family Elaeocarpaceae. They grow naturally in New Caledonia, New Guinea, t ...

'' Pancher ex Brongn. & Gris * ''

Burm. Johannes Burman (26 April 1707 in Amsterdam – 20 February 1780), was a Dutch botanist and physician. Burman specialized in plants from Ceylon, Amboina and Cape Colony. The name ''Pelargonium'' was introduced by Johannes Burman. Johannes B ...

ex L. * '' Peripentadenia'' L.S.Sm. * ''

Platytheca ''Platytheca'' is a genus of small shrubs in the family Elaeocarpaceae from the south-west of Western Australia. The genus was formally described by Joachim Steetz, his description published in ''Plantae Preissianae ''Plantae preissianae si ...

'' Steetz * ''

Sericolea ''Sericolea'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Elaeocarpaceae. Its native range is New Guinea. Species: *''Sericolea arfakensis'' *''Sericolea brassii'' *''Sericolea calophylla'' *''Sericolea chrysotricha'' *''Sericol ...

'' Schltr. * ''

'' L. * ''

Tetratheca ''Tetratheca'' is a genus of around 50 to 60 species of shrubs endemic to Australia. It is classified in the botanical family Elaeocarpaceae, now known to encompass the family Tremandraceae, which the genus originally belonged to. It occurs t ...

'' Sm. * ''

Tremandra ''Tremandra'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Elaeocarpaceae. It contains two species, both endemic to Western Australia. Description Plants in the genus ''Tremandra'' are shrubs to high with small to medium sized leaves arranged ...

'' R.Br. ex

* '' Vallea'' Mutis ex L.f.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q131280 Rosid families Santonian first appearances Extant Santonian first appearances