Overview
Aceraceae is a family of flowering plants also called the Maple Family. It contains two to four genera, depending upon the circumscription, of some 120 species of trees and shrubs. A common characteristic is that the leaves are opposite, and the fruit a schizocarp.1]
The maples have long been known to be closely related to the family Sapindaceae. Several taxonomists (including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group) now include both the Aceraceae and the Hippocastanaceae in the Sapindaceae. Recent research (Harrington et al. 2005[2]) has shown that while both Aceraceae and Hippocastanaceae are monophyletic in themselves, their removal from Sapindaceae sensu lato would leave Sapindaceae sensu stricto as a paraphyletic group, particularly with reference to the genus Xanthoceras.
has shown that while both Aceraceae and Hippocastanaceae are monophyletic in themselves, their removal from Sapindaceae sensu lato would leave Sapindaceae sensu stricto as a paraphyletic group, particularly with reference to the genus Xanthoceras.References
- ^ Aceraceae in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards), The families of flowering plants.
- ^ Harrington, M. G., Edwards, K. J., Johnson, S. A., Chase, M. W., & Gadek, P. A. (2005). Phylogenetic inference in Sapindaceae sensu lato using plastid matK and rbcL DNA sequences. Systematic Botany 30: 366-382. Abstract.
Acer saccharinum
Acer palmatum
Taxonomy
The Family Aceraceae is further organized into finer groupings including:
- Subfamily (1): Hippocastanoideae
- Genus (8): Argentacer · Bolboschoenus · Dipteronia · Negundo · Rufacer · Rulac · Saccharodendron · Sacchrosphendamnus
- Species: ZipcodeZoo has pages for 42 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in the Family Aceraceae.
Genera
Argentacer
Bolboschoenus
Herbs, perennial, cespitose or not, rhizomatous. Culms solitary or not, cormose at base [except eastern Asian Bolboschoenus planiculmis (F. Schmidt) T. V. Egerova], sharply trigonous. Leaves basal and cauline; sheaths tubular; ligules absent; blades flat or V-shaped in cross section, prominently keeled on abaxial surface, distally trigonous. Inflorescences terminal, subumbellate, subcorymbose, or capitate; spikelets to 80, mostly 4-10 mm diam.; involucral bracts surpassing inflorescence 1-5, spreading or proximal erect, leaflike. Spikelets: scales 25 or more, spirally arranged, each subtending flower, abaxially puberulent, often glabrescent, tip notched and awned. Flowers bisexual; perianth of 3-6 bristles, straight or curved, shorter to slightly longer than achene, retrorsely spinulose; stamens 3; styles linear, 2-3-fid, base persistent. Achenes biconvex to trigonous, 2.3-5.5 mm, smooth.[1] [more]
Dipteronia
Dipteronia is a genus of two living and one extinct species, regarded in the soapberry family Sapindaceae sensu lato after Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG I 1998, APG II 2003) and more recently (Harrington et al. 2005) )or traditionally by several authors in Aceraceae, related to the maples. [more]
Negundo
Rufacer
Rulac
Saccharodendron
Sacchrosphendamnus
More info about the Genus Sacchrosphendamnus may be found here.
References
- ^ Aceraceae in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards), The families of flowering plants.
- ^ Harrington, M. G., Edwards, K. J., Johnson, S. A., Chase, M. W., & Gadek, P. A. (2005). Phylogenetic inference in Sapindaceae sensu lato using plastid matK and rbcL DNA sequences. Systematic Botany 30: 366-382. Abstract.
Bibliography
- Beetle, A. A. 1942. Studies in the genus Scirpus L. IV. The section Bolboschoenus Palla. Amer. J. Bot. 29: 82-88.
- Browning, J. and K. D. Gordon-Gray. 1993. Studies in Cyperaceae in southern Africa: 21. The taxonomic significance of the achene and its embryo in Bolboschoenus. S. African J. Bot. 59: 311-318.
- Browning, J., K. D. Gordon-Gray, and S. G. Smith. 1995. Achene structure and taxonomy of North American Bolboschoenus (Cyperaceae). Brittonia 47: 433-445.
Footnotes
- S. Galen Smith "Bolboschoenus". in Flora of North America Vol. 23 Page 7, 37, 38. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org.
Sources
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