Everything about The Plantaginaceae totally explained
The
Plantaginaceae Juss. or
plantain family, is a
family of
flowering plants in the order
Lamiales. The type genus is
Plantago L..
In older classifications it used to be the only family of the order
Plantaginales, but numerous phylogenetic studies, summarized by the
Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, have demonstrated that this taxon should be included within the Lamiales.
The plantain family as traditionally circumscribed consisted of only three genera,
Bougueria,
Littorella, and
Plantago. However, new phylogenetic research has indicated that Plantaginaceae s.s. (s.s. =
sensu stricto, in the strict sense) is nested within several genera previously included in
Scrophulariaceae (but not including the type genus,
Scrophularia). Although Veronicaceae (1782) is the oldest family name for this group, Plantaginaceae (1789) is a conserved name under the
International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN) and thus has priority over any earlier family name within the circumscription of any group containing Plantaginaceae. Furthermore, the ICBN doesn't consider family names published before 1789 to be names eligible for conservation, thus ruling out Veronicaceae. The name
Antirrhinaceae has been proposed for conservation over Plantaginaceae. In the meantime, the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group has accepted the name Plantaginaceae. However, Olmstead (2003) has chosen to use the name Veronicaceae.
The Plantaginaceae s.l. (s.l. =
sensu lato, in the broad sense) is a most diverse,
cosmopolitan family, occurring mostly in temperate zones. It consists of
herbs,
shrubs and also a few
aquatic plants with
roots (such as the genus
Callitriche). Being so diverse, the circumscription of this family is difficult to establish (see Albach et al. in the reference list below).
The
leaves are spiral to opposite and simple to compound. Unusual in Lamiales is the absence of vertical partitions in the heads of the
glandular hairs.
The structure and form of the flowers can be very variable. Some genera are 4-merous (for example with 4
sepals and 4
petals), such as
Aragoa (but this one has 5 sepals); others are 5-8-merous, such as
Sibthorpia. The
flowers of most genera are polysymmetric. The
corolla is often two-lipped. In some taxa, the androecium is formed before the corolla.
The
fruit is a
capsule that dehisces through the partitions between the cells. In
Veronica this partition is in the length; in species of Antirrhineae the dehiscence releases the
pollen through the pores at the tip of the
anther; or it may come about through a transverse circular line around the capsule.
A group of genera including
Lindernia has recently been
segregated as the family
Linderniaceae, and recognized by Haston
et al 2007, (also known as LAPG II) as "Post-APG II family".
Genera
The enlarged Plantaginaceae s.l. / Veronicaceae consists of 90 genera and about 1,700 species. The largest genus is
Veronica with about 450 species.
Veronica also includes the genera
Hebe,
Parahebe and
Synthyris, formerly often treated as distinct. All genera of Plantaginaceae were formerly included in
Scrophulariaceae except where otherwise stated.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Plantaginaceae'.
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