Lecythidaceae

The Lecythidaceae comprise a family of about 20 genera and 250-300 species of woody plants native to tropical South America, Africa (including Madagascar), Asia and Australia.

Lecythidaceae
Flower of Barringtonia asiatica (futu) on Tongatapu
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Ericales
Family: Lecythidaceae
A.Rich.[1]
Genera

See text

Barringtonia acutangula (Freshwater Mangrove) fruits in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.

According to the most recent molecular analysis of Lecythidaceae by Mori et al. (2007),[2] the three subfamilies are:

  • Foetidioideae (Foetidiaceae) from Madagascar include only Foetidia.
  • Planchonioideae (including Barringtonia) are restricted to the Old World tropics.
  • Lecythidoideae (Lecythidaceae) are restricted to the New World tropics.

Two other families are sometimes included in Lecythidaceae; the Scytopetalaceae and Napoleonaeaceae are hypothesized as most closely related to Lecythidaceae.

More detailed information about Lecythidaceae, especially the New World taxa, can be found at the Lecythidaceae Pages.

The most important member of the family in world trade is the Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa), valued for its edible nuts; the paradise nut (Lecythis species) is also eaten.

The APG II system of 2003 includes genera from the family Scytopetalaceae in the Lecythidaceae, including Rhaptopetalum and Brazzeia. Careya is called pezham in Malayalam.

List of genera

References

  1. Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2009). "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 161 (2): 105–121. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-05-25. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
  2. Mori, S. A.; Tsou, C. -H.; Wu, C. -C.; Cronholm, B.; Anderberg, A. A. (2007). "Evolution of Lecythidaceae with an emphasis on the circumscription of neotropical genera: Information from combined ndhF and trnL-F sequence data". American Journal of Botany. 94 (3): 289–301. doi:10.3732/ajb.94.3.289. PMID 21636402.
  3. Takhtajan, A. (1997). Diversity and classification of flowering plants. ISBN 0-231-10098-1.
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