Garryaceae is a small

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

of plants known commonly as the silktassels.Garryaceae.
Flora of North America, efloras.org. It contains two genera: *'' Garrya''

Douglas Douglas may refer to: People * Douglas (given name) * Douglas (surname) Animals * Douglas (parrot), macaw that starred as the parrot ''Rosalinda'' in Pippi Longstocking * Douglas the camel, a camel in the Confederate Army in the American Civil ...

ex Lindl., 1834. About 16-18 species. *'' Aucuba'' Thunb., 1783. About 3-10 species. ''Aucuba'' was included in the family

Cornaceae The Cornaceae are a cosmopolitan family of flowering plants in the order Cornales. The family contains approximately 85 species in two genera, '' Alangium'' and '' Cornus''. They are mostly trees and shrubs, which may be deciduous or evergreen, ...

or Aucubaceae in some classification systems. Together with ''

Eucommia ulmoides ''Eucommia ulmoides'' is a species of small tree native to China. It belongs to the monotypic family Eucommiaceae. It is considered vulnerable in the wild, but is widely cultivated in China for its bark and is highly valued in herbology such as ...

'' the Garryaceae are currently placed by the

Angiosperm Phylogeny Group The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) is an informal international group of systematic botanists who collaborate to establish a consensus on the taxonomy of flowering plants (angiosperms) that reflects new knowledge about plant relationships disc ...

in an own order, the

Garryales The Garryales are a small order of dicotyledons, including only two families and three genera. Description Garryales are woody plants that are either hairless or have very fine hairs. Members of the family Garryaceae are evergreen, whereas thos ...

Chemical characteristics

Petroselinic acid occurs as the major fatty acid in ''Aucuba'' and ''Garrya'' species, and is also found in the families Griseliniaceae,

Apiaceae Apiaceae () or Umbelliferae is a family of mostly aromatic flowering plants named after the type genus ''Apium,'' and commonly known as the celery, carrot, or parsley family, or simply as umbellifers. It is the 16th-largest family of flowering p ...

and

Araliaceae The Araliaceae are a family of flowering plants composed of about 43 genera and around 1500 species consisting of primarily woody plants and some herbaceous plants commonly called the ginseng family. The morphology of Araliaceae varies widely ...

of the

Apiales The Apiales are an order of flowering plants, included in the asterid group of dicotyledons. Well-known members of Apiales include carrots, celery, coriander, parsley, parsnips, poison hemlock, ginseng, ivies, and pittosporums. Apiales consi ...

Distribution

The family is found in warm temperate and subtropical regions, ''Garrya'' in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...

, and ''Aucuba'' in eastern

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

. They are

evergreen In botany, an evergreen is a plant which has Leaf, foliage that remains green and functional throughout the year. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which lose their foliage completely during the winter or dry season. Consisting of many diffe ...

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 or small

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, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

s with opposite, simple

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, ...

. While they are different in morphology, the two genera have similar phytochemistries and can be intergrafted.

References

Garryales Asterid families {{Asterid-stub