The Myrtales are an

order Order, ORDER or Orders may refer to: * A socio-political or established or existing order, e.g. World order, Ancien Regime, Pax Britannica * Categorization, the process in which ideas and objects are recognized, differentiated, and understood ...

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 malvid clade of 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. Well-known members of Myrtales include: myrtle,

pōhutukawa Pōhutukawa (''Metrosideros excelsa''), also known as the New Zealand Christmas tree, or iron tree, is a coastal evergreen tree in the Myrtus, myrtle family, Myrtaceae, that produces a brilliant display of red (or occasionally orange, yellow o ...

, bay rum tree,

clove Cloves are the aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family Myrtaceae, ''Syzygium aromaticum'' (). They are native to the Maluku Islands, or Moluccas, in Indonesia, and are commonly used as a spice, flavoring, or Aroma compound, fragrance in fin ...

guava Guava ( ), also known as the 'guava-pear', is a common tropical fruit cultivated in many tropical and subtropical regions. The common guava '' Psidium guajava'' (lemon guava, apple guava) is a small tree in the myrtle family (Myrtaceae), nativ ...

, acca (feijoa),

allspice Allspice, also known as Jamaica pepper, myrtle pepper, pimenta, or pimento, is the dried unripe berry of ''Pimenta dioica'', a midcanopy tree native to the Greater Antilles, southern Mexico, and Central America, now cultivated in many warm par ...

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of more than 700 species of flowering plants in the family Myrtaceae. Most species of ''Eucalyptus'' are trees, often Mallee (habit), mallees, and a few are shrubs. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalyp ...

, crape myrtles, henna tree,

pomegranate The pomegranate (''Punica granatum'') is a fruit-bearing deciduous shrub in the family Lythraceae, subfamily Punica, Punicoideae, that grows between tall. Rich in symbolic and mythological associations in many cultures, it is thought to have o ...

water caltrop The water caltrop is any of three extant species of the genus ''Trapa'': ''Trapa natans'', ''Trapa bicornis'' and the endangered ''Trapa rossica''. It is also known as buffalo nut, bat nut, devil pod, ling nut, mustache nut, singhara nut or wate ...

, loosestrifes, cupheas (cigar plants), evening primroses,

fuchsia ''Fuchsia'' ( ) is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees. Almost 110 species of ''Fuchsia'' are recognized; the vast majority are native to South America, but a few occur north through Central America to Mex ...

s, willowherbs,

white mangrove White mangrove may refer to several species of plants, including: * ''Avicennia marina'', occurring around the Indian Ocean and into the western Pacific Ocean as far as New Zealand * ''Laguncularia racemosa ''Laguncularia'' is a genus of plants ...

, leadwood tree, African birch, Koster's curse, and velvet tree.

Taxonomy

Myrtales include the following nine families, according to the

APG III system The APG III system of flowering plant classification is the third version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy being developed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG). Published in 2009, it was superseded in 2016 by a f ...

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 ...

: *

Alzateaceae ''Alzatea verticillata'' is a small flowering tree, native to the Neotropics. It inhabits moist submontane forests from Costa Rica and Panama in Central America south to Peru and Bolivia in tropical South America. It is the sole species of genus ...

Combretaceae The Combretaceae, often called the white mangrove family, are a family 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, G ...

( leadwood family) *

Crypteroniaceae The Crypteroniaceae are a family of flowering trees and shrubs. The family includes 13 species in three genera, native to Indomalaya. Genera There are three genera of Crypteroniaceae, all native to Asian tropical forests: * '' Axinandra'' Thwa ...

Lythraceae Lythraceae is a family (biology), family of flowering plants, including 32 genus, genera, with about 620 species of Herbaceous plant, herbs, shrubs, and trees. The larger genera include ''Cuphea'' (275 spp.), ''Lagerstroemia'' (56), ''Nesaea (pl ...

( loosestrife and

family) *

Melastomataceae Melastomataceae () is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants found mostly in the tropics (two-thirds of the genera are from the New World tropics) comprising c. 175 genera and c. 5115 known species. Melastomes are annual or perennial herbs ...

(including

Memecylaceae Memecylaceae DC. was a family of flowering plants. The family included about 430 species of trees and shrubs in seven genera. Memecylaceae are widespread in the tropics. The family has now been included within the Melastomataceae under the APG I ...

) *

Myrtaceae Myrtaceae (), the myrtle family, is a family of dicotyledonous plants placed within the order Myrtales. Myrtle, pōhutukawa, bay rum tree, clove, guava, acca (feijoa), allspice, and eucalyptus are some notable members of this group. All ...

(myrtle family; including

Heteropyxidaceae ''Heteropyxis'' is a genus which includes three species of small evergreen trees. It was previously placed alone in the family Heteropyxidaceae, but is now placed basally within Myrtaceae. The species of ''Heteropyxis'' are native to southern Afr ...

, Psiloxylaceae) *

Onagraceae The Onagraceae are a family of flowering plants known as the willowherb family or evening primrose family. They include about 650 species of herbs, shrubs, and trees evening primrose ''Oenothera'' is a genus of about 145 species of herbaceous flowering plants native to the Americas. It is the type genus of the family Onagraceae. Common names include evening primrose, suncups, and sundrops. They are not closely related to ...

and

Fuchsia ''Fuchsia'' ( ) is a genus of flowering plants that consists mostly of shrubs or small trees. Almost 110 species of ''Fuchsia'' are recognized; the vast majority are native to South America, but a few occur north through Central America to Mex ...

family) *

Penaeaceae The Penaeaceae are a family of evergreen, leathery-leaved shrubs and small trees, native to South Africa. The family has 29 species in 9 genera.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards)Penaeaceae.

(including Oliniaceae, Rhynchocalycaceae) *

Vochysiaceae Vochysiaceae is a plant family belonging to the order Myrtales. Description Trees or shrubs with opposite leaves; flowers are zygomorph 1-(3)-5 merous; ovary inferior or superior; one fertile stamen; fruits samara or capsules. Biogeography ...

The APG III system places the order within the

eurosids The rosids are members of a large clade (monophyletic group) of flowering plants, containing about 70,000 species, more than a quarter of all angiosperms. The clade is divided into 16 to 20 orders, depending upon circumscription and classifica ...

; this is corroborated by the placement of the Myrtales in the Malvid clade by the ''One Thousand Plant Transcriptomes'' Initiative. Myrtales are placed as a sister to the

eurosids II The rosids are members of a large clade (monophyletic group) of flowering plants, containing about 70,000 species, more than a quarter of all angiosperms. The clade is divided into 16 to 20 orders, depending upon circumscription and classificatio ...

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

as of the publishing of the ''Eucalyptus grandis'' genome in June 2014. The

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 ...

gives essentially the same composition, except the

are removed to the order

Polygalales Fabales is an order of flowering plants included in the rosid group of the eudicots in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II classification system. In the APG II circumscription, this order includes the families Fabaceae or legumes (including the s ...

, and the

Thymelaeaceae The Thymelaeaceae are a cosmopolitan family (biology), family of flowering plants composed of 50 genera (listed below) and 898 species.Zachary S. Rogers (2009 onwards)A World Checklist of Thymelaeaceae (version 1) Missouri Botanical Garden Webs ...

are included. The families

Sonneratiaceae Sonneratiaceae were a family of flowering plants placed in the order Myrtales by the Cronquist system. They consisted of two genera, '' Sonneratia'' and '' Duabanga''. These are now generally placed in their own monotypic subfamilies of the famil ...

, Trapaceae, and

Punicaceae ''Punica'' is a small genus of fruit-bearing deciduous shrubs or small trees in the flowering plant family Lythraceae. The better known species is the pomegranate (''Punica granatum''). The other species, the Socotra pomegranate (''Punica proto ...

are removed from the Lythraceae. In the classification system of Dahlgren the Myrtales were in the

superorder Order () is one of the eight major hierarchical taxonomic ranks in Linnaean taxonomy. It is classified between family and class. In biological classification, the order is a taxonomic rank used in the classification of organisms and recognized ...

Myrtiflorae (also called Myrtanae). The APGIII system agrees with the older Cronquist circumscriptions of treating Psiloxylaceae and Heteropyxidaceae within Myrtaceae, and Memecyclaceae within Melastomataceae.

Ellagitannin image:Castalagin.svg, 130px, Castalagin is a representative ellagitannin, characterized by coupled gallic acid substituents The ellagitannins are a diverse class of hydrolyzable tannins, a type of polyphenol formed primarily from the oxidative link ...

s are reported in dicotyledoneous angiosperms, and notably in species in the order Myrtales.

Origins

Myrtales is dated to around 89–99 million years ago (mya) in

Australasia Australasia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising Australia, New Zealand (overlapping with Polynesia), and sometimes including New Guinea and surrounding islands (overlapping with Melanesia). The term is used in a number of different context ...

; however, there is some contention as to that date, which was obtained using

nuclear DNA Nuclear DNA (nDNA), or nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid, is the DNA contained within each cell nucleus of a eukaryotic organism. It encodes for the majority of the genome in eukaryotes, with mitochondrial DNA and plastid DNA coding for the rest. ...

. When looking at

chloroplast DNA Chloroplast DNA (cpDNA), also known as plastid DNA (ptDNA) is the DNA located in chloroplasts, which are photosynthetic organelles located within the cells of some eukaryotic organisms. Chloroplasts, like other types of plastid, contain a genome s ...

, the myrtales' ancestor is, instead, considered to have evolved during the mid-Cretaceous period (100mya) in

Southeast Africa Southeast Africa, or Southeastern Africa, is an African region that is intermediate between East Africa and Southern Africa. It comprises the countries Botswana, Eswatini, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanza ...

, rather than in Australasia. Although the APG system classifies myrtales as within the eurosids, the recently published genome of ''Eucalyptus grandis'' places the order myrtales as a sister to the eurosids rather than inside them. The discrepancy is thought to have arisen due to the difference between using numerous taxa versus using various genes for constructing a phylogeny.

References

External links

{{Authority control Angiosperm orders Flora of Australasia

Taxonomy

Origins

References

Further reading

External links