Overview
Ranunculales is an order of flowering plants. Of necessity it contains the family Ranunculaceae, the buttercup family, because the name of the order is based on the name of a genus in that family. Ranunculales belongs to a paraphyletic group known as the basal eudicots. It is the most basal clade in this group; in other words, it is sister to the remaining eudicots.
The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group recognized seven families in Ranunculales in their APG III system, published in 2009. In the preceding APG II system, they offered the option of three segregate families as shown below.
- order Ranunculales
Note: "+ ..." = optionally separate family (that may be split off from the preceding family).
Under this definition, well-known members of Ranunculales include buttercups, clematis, columbines, delphiniums, and poppies.
The Cronquist system (1981) also recognised the order, but placed it in the subclass Magnoliidae, in class Magnoliopsida [= dicotyledons]. It used this circumscription:
- order Ranunculales
- family Ranunculaceae
- family Circaeasteraceae
- family Berberidaceae
- family Sargentodoxaceae
- family Lardizabalaceae
- family Menispermaceae
- family Coriariaceae
- family Sabiaceae
In the Cronquist system, the Papaveraceae and Fumariaceae (including the plants in the optional family Pteridophyllaceae) were treated as a separate order Papaverales, placed in this same subclass Magnoliidae. The Cronquist circumscription of Ranunculales is now known to be polyphyletic. Sabiaceae is in a clade of basal eudicots separate from Ranunculales. Coriariaceae is now placed in the order Cucurbitales.
A phylogeny of Ranunculales was published in 2009, based on molecular phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences. The authors of this paper revised the subfamilies and tribes of the order.1]
the option of three segregate families as shown below.- order Ranunculales
Note: "+ ..." = optionally separate family (that may be split off from the preceding family).
Under this definition, well-known members of Ranunculales include buttercups, clematis, columbines, delphiniums, and poppies.
The Cronquist system (1981) also recognised the order, but placed it in the subclass Magnoliidae, in class Magnoliopsida [= dicotyledons]. It used this circumscription:
- order Ranunculales
- family Ranunculaceae
- family Circaeasteraceae
- family Berberidaceae
- family Sargentodoxaceae
- family Lardizabalaceae
- family Menispermaceae
- family Coriariaceae
- family Sabiaceae
In the Cronquist system, the Papaveraceae and Fumariaceae (including the plants in the optional family Pteridophyllaceae) were treated as a separate order Papaverales, placed in this same subclass Magnoliidae. The Cronquist circumscription of Ranunculales is now known to be polyphyletic. Sabiaceae is in a clade of basal eudicots separate from Ranunculales. Coriariaceae is now placed in the order Cucurbitales.
A phylogeny of Ranunculales was published in 2009, based on molecular phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences. The authors of this paper revised the subfamilies and tribes of the order.1]
References
- ^ Wei Wang; An-Ming Lu, Yi Ren, Mary E. Endress, and Zhi-Duan Chen (2009). "Phylogeny and Classification of Ranunculales: Evidence from four molecular loci and morphological data". Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evoluti on and Systematics 11 (2): 81?110. doi:10.1016/j.ppees.2009.01.001.
External links
Taxonomy
The Order Papaverales is further organized into finer groupings including:
- Family (3): Fumariaceae · Hypecoaceae · Pteridophyllaceae
- Species: ZipcodeZoo has pages for 6 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in the Order Papaverales.
Families
Fumariaceae
Fumariaceae (fumitory, fumewort, or bleeding-heart family; sometimes treated as subfamily Fumarioideae under family Papaveraceae) is a family of about 575 species of herbaceous plants in 20 genera, native to the Northern Hemisphere and South Africa. [more]
Hypecoaceae
Pteridophyllaceae
More info about the Family Pteridophyllaceae may be found here.
References
- ^ Wei Wang; An-Ming Lu, Yi Ren, Mary E. Endress, and Zhi-Duan Chen (2009). "Phylogeny and Classification of Ranunculales: Evidence from four molecular loci and morphological data". Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics 11 (2): 81?110. doi:10.1016/j.ppees.2009.01.001.
Sources
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