Everything about The Lauraceae totally explained
The
Lauraceae or
Laurel family comprises a group of
flowering plants included in the order
Laurales. The family contains about 55 genera and over 2000 (perhaps as many as 4000) species world-wide, mostly from warm or tropical regions, especially
Southeast Asia and
Brazil. Most are aromatic
evergreen trees or shrubs, but
Sassafras and one or two other genera are
deciduous, and
Cassytha is a genus of
parasitic vines.
Trees of the laurel family predominate in the world's
laurel forests, which occur in a few humid subtropical and mild temperate regions of the northern and southern hemispheres, including the
Macaronesian islands, southern
Japan,
Madagascar, and central
Chile.
There are three main economical uses for this family. A high content of
ethereal oils are found in many Lauraceae. Ethereal oils are important sources for spices and perfumes. Avocados are important oil-rich fruit that are now planted in warm climates across the world. The hard
wood of several species is a source for timber around the world.
The following genera include species with commercial value and are consequently among the best known:
Classification
Classification within the Lauraceae remains unresolved. Multiple classification schemes base on a variety of morphological and anatomical characteristics have been proposed but none are fully accepted. According to Judd et al. (2007), the suprageneric classification proposed by van der Werff and Richter (1996) while a questionable placement of
Cassytha has been concluded from analysis of intergenetic spacers of chloroplast and nuclear genomes . Embryological studies also appear contradictory. One study by Heo et al. (1998) supports the subfamily. It found that
Cassytha develops an
ab initio cellular type endosperm and rest of the family (with one exception) develops a nuclear type endosperm. Kimoto et al. (2006) suggests that
Cassytha should be placed in the Cryptocaryeae tribe because it shares a glandular anther tapetum and an embryo sac protruding from the nucellus with other members of the Cryptocaryeae.
The Laureae and Perseeae tribes are not well supported by any molecular or embryological studies. Sequences of the
matK chloroplast gene . Additionally,
the huge amount of variation within the family for any potential defining characteristic poses a major challenge for developing a reliable classification . It is impossible to describe even one genus or tribe by a single well-defined character
. For this reason, all proposed classifications rely on a set of characteristics where the combination presents the most frequently observed traits for the group
.
Genera
(*:
Machilus is often included in
Persea as a subgenus)
Further Information
Get more info on 'Lauraceae'.
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