The Scrophulariaceae are 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 ...

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, commonly known as the figwort family. The plants are annual and perennial herbs, as well as shrubs. Flowers have bilateral (

zygomorphic Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts. Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spir ...

) or rarely radial (

actinomorphic Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts. Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spirall ...

) symmetry. The Scrophulariaceae have a

cosmopolitan distribution In biogeography, a cosmopolitan distribution is the range of a taxon that extends across most or all of the surface of the Earth, in appropriate habitats; most cosmopolitan species are known to be highly adaptable to a range of climatic and en ...

, with the majority found in temperate areas, including tropical mountains. The family name is based on the name of the included genus ''

Scrophularia The genus ''Scrophularia'' of the family Scrophulariaceae comprises about 200 species of herbaceous flowering plants commonly known as figworts. Species of ''Scrophularia'' all share square stems, opposite leaves and open two-lipped flowers fo ...

'' L.

Taxonomy

In the past, it was treated as including about 275 genera and over 5,000 species, but its circumscription has been radically altered since numerous molecular phylogenies have shown the traditional broad circumscription to be grossly

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...

. Many genera have recently been transferred to other families within the Lamiales, notably

Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae, the plantain family or veronica family, is a large, diverse family (biology), family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as Antirrhinum, snapdragon and Digitalis, foxglove. It is unrelated ...

and

Orobanchaceae Orobanchaceae, the broomrapes, is a family (biology), family of mostly parasitic plants of the order (biology), order Lamiales, with about 90 genus, genera and more than 2000 species. Many of these genera (e.g., ''Pedicularis'', ''Rhinanthus'', ...

, but also several new families. - on lin
here
/ref> Several families of the Lamiales have had their circumscriptions enlarged to accommodate genera transferred from the Scrophulariacae ''

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

''. Fischer (2004) considered the family to consist of three subfamilies – Antirrhinoideae, Gratioloideae, and Digitalidoideae. He further divided the Gratioloideae into five tribes – Gratioleae, Angeloniaeae, Stemodieae, Limoselleae, and Lindernieae. He then divided the Gratioleae, with its 16 genera (and about 182 species) into three subtribes – Caprarinae, Dopatrinae, and Gratiolinae. The Gratiolinae had 10 genera (about 121 species) distributed through temperate and tropical America – ''

Bacopa ''Bacopa'' is a genus of 60 aquatic plants belonging to the family Plantaginaceae. It is commonly known as waterhyssop (or water hyssop, though this is more misleading as ''Bacopa'' is not very closely related to hyssop but simply has a somewh ...

'' and '' Mecardonia'' (formerly '' Herpestis''), ''

Amphianthus ''Amphianthus'' is a genus of sea anemones. It is the only genus in the monotypic family Amphianthidae. Species The following species are recognized: * ''Amphianthus armatus'' Carlgren, 1928 * ''Amphianthus bathybium'' Hertwig, 1882 * ''Amph ...

'', ''

Gratiola ''Gratiola'' is a genus of plants in the family Plantaginaceae. Most species are known generally as hedgehyssops. It includes 29 species native to temperate North America and Eurasia, and to Morocco, South America, Australia, and New Zealand. The ...

'', '' Sophronanthe'', '' Benjaminia'', '' Scoparia'', '' Boelkea'', '' Maeviella'', and '' Braunblequetia''. Many of these were transferred to the family Plantaginaceae, in the tribe Gratioleae.

Uses

The family includes some

medicinal plants Medicinal plants, also called medicinal herbs, have been discovered and used in traditional medicine practices since prehistoric times. Plants synthesize hundreds of chemical compounds for various functions, including Plant defense against h ...

, among them: * ''

'', figworts * '' Verbascum'', mulleins

Genera

The family Scrophulariaceae in its APG IV (2016) circumscription includes 62 genera and about 1830 known species. As of May 2024,

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

accepts 58 genera.Scrophulariaceae Juss.
''

''. Retrieved 13 May 2024.

Excluded genera

The following genera, traditionally included in the Scrophulariaceae, have been transferred to other families as indicated:

References

External links

Kew list of Scrophulariaceae

Flowers in Israel
verbascum.org
{{Authority control Lamiales families