Overview
Opiliaceae is the botanical name for a family of flowering plants. It consists of perhaps a dozen genera, totalling several dozen species of tropical woody plants. Several genera contain parasitic species. The biggest genus, in number of species and in stature of the individual plants, is Agonandra, the only American genus. Except for the Australian genus Anthobolus (previously placed in Santalaceae), all other members of the family are found in the Old World tropics, where they are widespread.
Since it was first described this family has been recognized universally by taxonomists. The APG II system, of 2003 (unchanged from the APG system, of 1998), also recognizes this family and assigns it to the order Santalales in the clade core eudicots.
- Opiliaceae in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards). The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, information retrieval. Version: 2 June 2006. http://delta-intkey.com
- Opiliaceae at Parasitic Plants
- NCBI Taxonomy Browser
Taxonomy
The Family Opiliaceae is further organized into finer groupings including:
- Tribe (2): Agonandreae · Opilieae
- Genus (12): Agonandra · Cansjera · Champereia · Gjellerupia · Lepionurus · Leptonium · Melientha · Opilia · Pentarhopalopilia · Rhopalopilia · Urobotrya · Yunnanopilia
- Species: ZipcodeZoo has pages for 121 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in the Family Opiliaceae.
Genera
Agonandra
Agonandra is a genus of plants in the family Opiliaceae. It contains about 10 species, including Agonandra loranthoides and Agonandra brasiliensis native to South America. [more]
Cansjera
Lianas or shrubs. Spikes axillary; bracts small, persistent. Flowers bisexual, 1 per bract. Perianth urceolate or campanulate, 4(or 5) -lobed, pilose. Filaments filiform. Disk scales alternate with stamens. Ovary ovoid or cylindric. Style short, hardly exceeding the perianth tube. Drupe mesocarp fleshy; endocarp thin; embryo with 3 or 4 cotyledons.[1] [more]
Champereia
Shrubs or trees, polygamous. Branchlets glabrous. Inflorescences axillary, usually at defoliated nodes or on trunk, panicles, widely branched when with bisexual flowers, more dense and with thick branches when with female flowers; bracts minute. Flowers 4- or 5-merous. Pedicel glabrous. Bisexual flower: tepals reflexed; disk annular; ovary semi-sunken in disk; stigma sessile. Female flowers: tepals erect; stamens rudimentary; disk lobed. Drupe mesocarp fleshy; endocarp woody; embryo with 3 cotyledons.[2] [more]
Gjellerupia
Lepionurus
Shrubs, usually glabrous. Racemes axillary, glabrous; bracts densely imbricate, margin hyaline and short ciliate, usually caducous. Flowers bisexual, 3 per bract. Pedicel short. Perianth united, deeply (3 or) 4(or 5) -lobed. Filaments flattened. Disk cupular, margin irregularly lobed. Ovary ovoid-conic. Stigma sessile, entire or shallowly 4-lobed. Drupe ellipsoid, sometimes ovoid; mesocarp fleshy; endocarp crustaceous; embryo with 3 or 4 cotyledons.[3] [more]
Leptonium
Melientha
Opilia
Lianas or shrubs. Racemes axillary, tomentose; bracts peltate, densely imbricate, margin short ciliate, caducous. Flowers bisexual, 3 per bract. Tepals (4 or) 5, free, recurved. Disk (4 or) 5-lobed; lobes thick, fleshy, alternate with tepals. Ovary cylindric to ellipsoid. Stigma sessile. Drupe puberulent; mesocarp fleshy; endocarp thin, woody; embryo with 3 cotyledons.[4] [more]
Pentarhopalopilia
Rhopalopilia
Urobotrya
Shrubs or small trees. Branchlets glabrous or puberulous. Racemes axillary or at defoliate nodes; bracts narrowly lanceolate, ovate, or ± rounded, densely imbricate, margin hyaline and ciliate, usually caducous. Flowers bisexual, usually 3 per bract. Racemes glabrous. Pedicels glabrous or puberulous. Tepals 3 or 4(or 5), free, oblong, apex acute. Filaments filiform. Disk annular, fleshy. Ovary conic to cylindric. Stigma sessile. Drupe mesocarp thinly fleshy; embryo with 3 cotyledons.[5] [more]
Yunnanopilia
More info about the Genus Yunnanopilia may be found here.
Bibliography
- Chen Pang-yu. 1988. Opiliaceae. In: Kiu Hua-shing & Ling Yeou-ruenn, eds., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 24: 4652.
Footnotes
- "Cansjera". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 205. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.
- "Champereia". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 206. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.
- "Lepionurus". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 206. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.
- "Opilia". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 205. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.
- "Urobotrya". in Flora of China Vol. 5 Page 206. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org.
Sources
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