Interesting Facts
Description
Family Betulaceae
Trees
or shrubs
deciduous, monoecious. Stipules present, free
, often deciduous, rarely persistent
. Leaves alternate, simple
, petiolate
, usually doubly serrate, rarely simply serrate, lobulate
, or entire; veins pinnate. Flowers unisexual
. Male inflorescence precocious
, elongate
, pendulous, with numerous
overlapping bracts; each bract usually subtending
a small dichasium with 1-3 male flowers; stamens as many as and opposite sepals or, if sepals obsolete
, then stamens of inflorescence to 20; filaments
very short, connate
or nearly so; anthers
2-loculed, thecae connate or separate, opening by longitudinal
slits. Female inflorescence pendulous or erect
, with numerous overlapping bracts; each bract subtending a small dichasium with 2 or 3 flowers; calyx with 1-6 scalelike lobes
, or obsolete; petals absent; ovary inferior, 2-loculed; styles 2, free; ovules 2, or 1 by abortion
, pendulous from near apex of each locule. Fruit a nut or nutlet
, winged
or not. Seed 1, with straight embryo and flat or thickened cotyledons, without endosperm.
Six genera and 150-200 species: mainly in Asia, Europe, and North and South America; six genera (one endemic) and 89 species (56 endemic) in China.
Because of evolutionary divergence
within the Betulaceae, the family
has often been divided
into tribes
(i.e.
, Betuleae, Carpineae, and Coryleae) or more recently into subfamilies (J. J. Furlow, J. Arnold Arbor
. 71: 1-67. 1990) .[1]
Taxonomy
- Domain:
Eukaryota
(
)
- Whittaker & Margulis,1978
- eukaryotes
- Kingdom:
Plantae
()
- Haeckel, 1866
- Plants
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
()
- Cavalier-Smith, 1981
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
()
- Sinnott, 1935 ex Cavalier-Smith, 1998
- Vascular Plants
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
()
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
()
- Kenrick & Crane, 1997
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
()
- Brongniart, 1843
- Dicotyledons
- Subclass:
Rosidae
()
- Takhtajan, 1967
- Superorder:
Faganae
()
- (Engler, 1892) Takhtajan, 1997
- Order:
Fagales
()
- Engler, 1892
- Family:
Betulaceae
()
- Gray, 1821
- Birch Family
- Genus:
Betula-alnus
()
- Specific epithet:
rubra
- Marshall
- Botanical name: - Betula-alnus rubra Marshall
- Specific epithet:
rubra
- Marshall
- Genus:
Betula-alnus
(
- Family:
Betulaceae
(
- Order:
Fagales
(
- Superorder:
Faganae
(
- Subclass:
Rosidae
(
- Class:
Magnoliopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Notes
Publishing author : Marshall Publication : Arbust. Amer. 20 1785
Similar Species
Members of the genus Betula-alnus
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 0 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:
More Info
- Search for Pictures: images.google.com
- Search for Scholarly Articles: Google Scholar
- Search using Scientific Name and Vernacular Names: All the Web | AltaVista Canada | AltaVista | Excite | Google | HotBot | Lycos
- Search using Specialized Databases: GenBank | Medline | Scirus | CISTI/CAL | Agricola Periodicals | Agricola Books
Further Reading
- Li Pei-chun & Cheng Sze-hsu. 1979. Betulaceae. In: Kuang Ko-zen & Li Pei-chun, eds., Fl. Reipubl. Popularis Sin. 21: 44-137.
Notes
Contributors
- The International Plant Names Index. Accessed Dec 27, 2011.
Identifiers
- Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: Kew-21840
- Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:107939-1
- International Plant Names Index (IPNI) ID: 107939-1
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 1206423
Footnotes
- Pei-chun Li & Alexei K. Skvortsov "Betulaceae". in Flora of China Vol. 4 Page 286. Published by Science Press (Beijing) and Missouri Botanical Garden Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
