The Lecythidaceae ( ) comprise a
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 about 20 genera and 250–300 species of
woody plant
A woody plant is a plant that produces wood as its structural tissue and thus has a hard stem. In cold climates, woody plants further survive winter or dry season above ground, as opposed to Herbaceous plant, herbaceous plants that die back to t ...
s native to tropical
South America
South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...
,
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
(including
Madagascar
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
), Asia and Australia.
Well known members of the family include the cannonball tree (''
Couroupita guianensis
''Couroupita guianensis'', known by a variety of common names including cannonball tree, is a deciduous tree in the flowering plant family Lecythidaceae. It is native to lowland tropical rainforests of Central and South America, from Costa Rica, ...
'') and the edible
Brazil nut (''Bertholletia excelsa'').
Taxonomy
According to molecular analysis of Lecythidaceae, including work by Mori ''et al.'' (2007),
subfamilies include:
Barringtonioidea
Previously Barringtoniaceae;
[ also ''sensu'' Takhtajan 1997;]
Foetidioideae
Previously Foetidiaceae[ from Madagascar is monogeneric:
* '' Foetidia'' Comm. ex Lam.
]
Lecythidoideae
Genera restricted to the New World tropics.
# '' Allantoma'' Miers
# '' Bertholletia'' Bonpl.
# '' Cariniana'' Casar.
# '' Corythophora'' R.Knuth
# '' Couratari'' Aubl.
# '' Couroupita'' Aubl.
# '' Eschweilera'' Mart. ex DC.
# '' Grias'' L.
# '' Gustavia'' L.
# '' Lecythis'' Loefl.
Scytopetaloideae
The APG II system
The APG II system (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II system) of plant classification is the second, now obsolete, version of a modern, mostly Molecular phylogenetics, molecular-based, list of systems of plant taxonomy, system of plant taxonomy that ...
of 2003 included genera from the family Scytopetalaceae and others
# '' Asteranthos'' Desf., also as Asteranthaceae[
# '' Brazzeia'' Verc.
# '' Oubanguia'' Baill.
# '' Pierrina'' Engl.
# '' Rhaptopetalum'' Oliv.
# '' Scytopetalum'' Engl.
]
Napoleonaeoideae
Previously as family Napoleonaeaceae;[ species are native to Africa.
# '' Crateranthus'' Baker f., ''incertae sedis'' according to Takhtajan,
# '']Napoleonaea
''Napoleonaea'' is a genus of woody plant in the family Lecythidaceae first described as a genus in 1804, the same year its namesake (Napoleon Bonaparte) crowned himself Emperor of the French. The genus is native to Africa.Ronde de Craene, L. PFl ...
'' P.Beauv.
References
External links
Lecythidaceae
i
L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants.
http://delta-intkey.com
i
L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants.
http://delta-intkey.com
i
L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants.
http://delta-intkey.com
i
L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants.
http://delta-intkey.com
i
L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants.
http://delta-intkey.com
by Scott A. Mori and Ghillean T. Prance
Toa Alta, Puerto Rico
i
{{Authority control
Ericales families