Interesting Facts
Description
Family Lauraceae
Shrubs
to tall trees
, evergreen
or rarely deciduous ( Cassytha a parasitic vine
with leaves reduced to scales
), usually aromatic
. Leaves alternate, rarely whorled
or opposite, simple
, without stipules, petiolate
. Leaf blade
: unlobed (unlobed or lobed
in Sassafras ), margins
entire, occasionally with domatia (crevices or hollows serving as lodging for mites
) in axils of main lateral
veins (in Cinnamomum ) . Inflorescences in axils of leaves or deciduous bracts, panicles (rarely heads
), racemes
, compound
cymes, or pseudoumbels (spikes in Cassytha ), sometimes enclosed by decussate bracts. Flowers bisexual
or unisexual
, bisexual only, or staminate
and pistillate
on different plants
, or staminate and bisexual on some plants, pistillate and bisexual on others; flowers usually yellow to greenish or white, rarely reddish; hypanthium well developed, resembling calyx tube
, tepals and stamens perigynous; tepals 6(-9), in 2(-3) whorls of 3, sepaloid
, equal or rarely unequal, if unequal then usually outer 3 smaller than inner 3 (occasionally absent in Litsea ) ; stamens (3-) 9(-12), in whorls of 3, but 1 or more whorls frequently staminodial or absent; stamens of 3d whorl with 2 glands
near base
; anthers
2- or 4-locular, locules opening by valves
; pistil 1, 1-carpellate; ovary 1-locular; placentation basal; ovule 1; stigma subsessile
, discoid
or capitate. Fruits drupes, drupe borne on pedicel with or without persistent
tepals at base, or seated in ± deeply cup-shaped receptacle (cupule), or enclosed in accrescent
floral tube
. Seed 1; endosperm absent.
Genera ca.
50, species 2000-3000 (9 genera, 13 species in the flora
) : pantropical
, a few species also in subtropical
and temperate
regions
Cassytha is sometimes placed in its own family
, Cassythaceae; it is here retained in Lauraceae.[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:
Spermatopsida
()
- Brongniart, 1843
- Subclass:
Magnoliidae
()
- Novák ex Takhtajan, 1967
- Subclass:
Magnoliidae
(
- Class:
Spermatopsida
(
- Infraphylum:
Radiatopses
(
- Subphylum:
Euphyllophytina
(
- Phylum:
Tracheophyta
(
- Subkingdom:
Viridaeplantae
(
- Kingdom:
Plantae
(
Similar Species
Members of the genus Ocotea
ZipcodeZoo has pages for 14 species, subspecies, varieties, forms, and cultivars in this genus:
O. aciphylla (Moena) · O. floribunda (Laurel Espada) · O. foeniculacea (Black Sweetwood) · O. foetens (Tilo) · O. holdridgeana (Tall-Fin Shrimp-Goby) · O. lancilimba (Bois Cannelle) · O. leucoxylon (Loblolly Sweetwood) · O. moschata (Nemoca) · O. nemodaphne (Laurel Sassafras) · O. portoricensis (Laurel De Paloma) · O. puberula (Cedre Gris) · O. spathulata (Nemoca Cimarrona) · O. usambarensis (East African Camphorwood) · O. wrightii (Wright's Laurel Canelon)
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
- An elementary course of botany: structural, physiological, and systematic / by Arthur Henfrey. London: John Van Voorst, 1878. url p. 689.
- Contributions from the United States National Herbarium 40 2000 Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1890- url p. 104.
- Flora Costaricensis / William Burger, editor. 23 1990 Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, 1990. url p. 76.
- Hortus suburbanus Calcuttensis; A catalogue of the plants which have been cultivated in the Hon. East India Company's botanical garden, Calcutta, and in the Serampore botanical garden. By the late J. O. Voigt, printed under the superintendence of W. Griffith. Calcutta, Bishop's College Press, 1845. url p. 310.
- The flora of British India /By J. D. Hooker assisted by various botanists. Published under the authority of the secretary of state for India in council. London: L. Reeve, 1875-97. url p. 139.
- The silva of North America: a description of the trees which grow naturally in North America exclusive of Mexico /by Charles Sprague Sargent. .. illustrated with figures and analyses drawn from nature by Charles Edward Faxon. .. 7 1895 Boston, New York: Houghton, Mifflin and company, 1891-1902. url p. 10, p. 134, p. 171.
- Wood, C. E. Jr. 1958. The genera of the woody Ranales in the southeastern United States. J. Arnold Arbor. 39: 296-346.
Notes
Contributors
- Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 12, 2012.
Data Sources
Accessed through GBIF Data Portal November 15, 2007:
- Herbarium of the University of Aarhus, The AAU Herbarium Database
- Missouri Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden
Identifiers
- Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 3480291
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 15554663
- Globally Unique Identifier: urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:467605-1
- Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 2066406
Footnotes
- Henk van der Werff "Lauraceae". in Flora of North America Vol. 3. Oxford University Press. Online at EFloras.org. [back]
