The Fagales are an
order of
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...
s in the
rosid group of
dicotyledon
The dicotyledons, also known as dicots (or, more rarely, dicotyls), are one of the two groups into which all the flowering plants (angiosperms) were formerly divided. The name refers to one of the typical characteristics of the group: namely, ...
s, including some of the best-known trees. Well-known members of Fagales include:
beech
Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...
es,
chestnuts,
oaks,
walnut
A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...
,
pecan,
hickory
Hickory is a common name for trees composing the genus ''Carya'', which includes 19 species accepted by ''Plants of the World Online''.
Seven species are native to southeast Asia in China, Indochina, and northeastern India (Assam), and twelve ...
,
birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...
es,
alder
Alders are trees of the genus ''Alnus'' in the birch family Betulaceae. The genus includes about 35 species of monoecious trees and shrubs, a few reaching a large size, distributed throughout the north temperate zone with a few species ex ...
s,
hazels,
hornbeam
Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the plant genus ''Carpinus'' in the family Betulaceae. Its species occur across much of the temperateness, temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Common names
The common English name ''hornbeam'' derives ...
s,
she-oaks, and
southern beeches. The order name is derived from
genus
Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...
''Fagus'' (beeches).
Systematics
Fagales include the following seven families, according to the
APG III system of
classification
Classification is the activity of assigning objects to some pre-existing classes or categories. This is distinct from the task of establishing the classes themselves (for example through cluster analysis). Examples include diagnostic tests, identif ...
:
[
* Betulaceae – birch family ('' Alnus'', '' Betula'', '']Carpinus
Hornbeams are hardwood trees in the plant genus ''Carpinus'' in the family Betulaceae. Its species occur across much of the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Common names
The common English name ''hornbeam'' derives from the hard ...
'', '' Corylus'', ''Ostrya
''Ostrya'' is a genus of eight to 10 small deciduous trees belonging to the birch family Betulaceae. Common names include hop-hornbeam and hophornbeam. It may also be called ironwood, a name shared with a number of other plants.
The genus is na ...
'', and '' Ostryopsis'')
*Casuarinaceae
The Casuarinaceae are a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants placed in the order Fagales, consisting of four genera and 91 species of trees and shrubs native to eastern Africa, Australia, Southeast Asia, Malesia, Papuasia, and the Pacific ...
– she-oak family ('' Allocasuarina'', '' Casuarina'', ''Ceuthostoma
''Ceuthostoma'' is a genus of two species of trees, constituting part of the plant family Casuarinaceae.
They grow naturally only in Malesia, in the islands of Palawan, Borneo, Halmahera and New Guinea
New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini ...
'', and '' Gymnostoma'')
*Fagaceae
The Fagaceae (; ) are a family of flowering plants that includes beeches, chestnuts and oaks, and comprises eight genera with around 1,000 or more species. Fagaceae in temperate regions are mostly deciduous, whereas in the tropics, many species ...
– beech family ('' Castanea'', '' Castanopsis'', '' Chrysolepis'', ''Fagus
Beech (genus ''Fagus'') is a genus of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to subtropical (accessory forest element) and temperate (as dominant element of Mesophyte, mesophytic forests) Eurasia and North America. There are 14 accepted ...
'', '' Lithocarpus'', '' Notholithocarpus'', ''Quercus
An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...
'', and '' Trigonobalanus'')
*Juglandaceae
The Juglandaceae are a plant family known as the walnut family. They are trees, or sometimes shrubs, in the order Fagales. Members of this family are native to the Americas, Eurasia, and Southeast Asia.
The nine or ten genera in the family have ...
– walnut family (''Alfaroa
''Alfaroa'' is a genus of evergreen trees in the Juglandaceae family of the Fagales, growing in montane and submontane tropical rain forests in Central America. The wood is characterized by solid pith, pink heartwood, and vessels with scalarifo ...
'', '' Carya'', '' Cyclocarya'', '' Engelhardia'', ''Juglans
Walnut trees are any species of tree in the plant genus ''Juglans'', the type genus of the family (biology), family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are referred to as walnuts. All species are deciduous trees, tall, with pinnate leaves , with ...
'', '' Oreomunnea'', '' Platycarya'', ''Pterocarya
''Pterocarya'', often called wingnuts in English, are trees in the walnut family Juglandaceae. They are native to Asia. The botanic name is from Ancient Greek (''pteron'') "wing" + (''karyon'') "Nut (fruit), nut".
Description
''Pterocarya'' a ...
'', and '' Rhoiptelea'')
* Myricaceae – bayberry family ('' Canacomyrica'', '' Comptonia'', and '' Myrica'')
* Nothofagaceae – southern beech family (''Nothofagus
''Nothofagus'', also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of 43 species of trees and shrubs native to the Southern Hemisphere, found across southern South America (Chile, Argentina) and east and southeast Australia, New Zealand, New Guin ...
'')
* Ticodendraceae – ticodendron family ('' Ticodendron'')
Modern molecular phylogenetics
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 ...
suggest the following relationships:[
The older ]Cronquist system
The Cronquist system is a list of systems of plant taxonomy, taxonomic classification system of angiosperms, flowering plants. It was developed by Arthur Cronquist in a series of monographs and texts, including ''The Evolution and Classification of ...
only included four families (Betulaceae, Corylaceae, Fagaceae, Ticodendraceae; Corylaceae now being included within Betulaceae); this arrangement is followed by, for example, the World Checklist of selected plant families.paraphyletic
Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...
to the other two groups.
Characteristics
Most Fagales are wind pollinated and are monoecious
Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system comparable with gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy, and contras ...
with unisexual flowers.
Evolutionary history
The oldest member of the order is the flower '' Soepadmoa cupulata'' preserved in the late Turonian
The Turonian is, in the International Commission on Stratigraphy, ICS' geologic timescale, the second age (geology), age in the Late Cretaceous epoch (geology), Epoch, or a stage (stratigraphy), stage in the Upper Cretaceous series (stratigraphy), ...
- Coniacian New Jersey amber
New Jersey Amber, sometimes called Raritan amber, is amber found in the Raritan Formation, Raritan and Magothy Formations of the Mid-Atlantic states, Central Atlantic (Eastern) coast of the United States. It is dated to the Late Cretaceous, Turoni ...
, which is a mosaic
A mosaic () is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/Mortar (masonry), mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and ...
with characteristics characteristic of both ''Nothofagus'' and other Fagales, suggesting that the ancestor of all Fagales was ''Nothofagus''-like.
References
External links
Missouri Botanical Gardens - Fagales
{{Authority control
Angiosperm orders