Plantaginaceae

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Plantain family

Plantago major

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Lamiales
Family:	Plantaginaceae Juss.

Genera

See text.

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 does not 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 (i.e. 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 but this family has not yet found wide acceptance.

[edit] 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.

Acanthorrhinum
Achetaria
Adenosma
Albraunia
Amphianthus
Anarrhinum
Angelonia
Antirrhinum - Snapdragon
Aragoa
Artanema
Asarina
Bacopa - Water Hyssop
Basistemon
Benjaminia
Besseya (now included in Veronica)
Bougueria
Brookea
Bryodes
Bythophyton
Callitriche - Water Starwort (formerly in Callitrichaceae)
Campylanthus
Chaenorhinum
Chelone
Chionohebe (now included in Veronica)
Chionophila
Cochlidiosperma (now included in Veronica)
Collinsia
Conobea
Cymbalaria
Detzneria (now included in Veronica)
Digitalis - Foxglove
Dintera
Dizygostemon
Dopatrium
Ellisophyllum (?)
Encopella
Epixiphium
Erinus
Galvezia
Gambelia
Geochorda
Globularia (formerly belonging to Globulariaceae)
Gratiola - Hedge Hyssop
Hebe (now included in Veronica)
Hemiphragma
Herpestis
Hippuris - Mare’s-tale (formerly in Hippuridaceae)
Holmgrenanthe
Holzneria
Howelliella
Hydrotriche
Isoplexis (now included in Digitalis)
Kashmiria
Keckiella
Kickxia - Fluellen
Lafuentea
Lagotis
Leucophyllum (?)
Limnophila
Limosella - Mudwort
Linaria - Toadflax
Littorella (often included in Plantago)
Lophospermum
Mabrya
Maurandella
Maurandya
Mecardonia
Melosperma
Microcarpaea
Misopates
Mohavea
Monocardia
Monopera
Monttea
Nemesia
Neogaerrhinum
Neopicrorhiza
Nothochelone
Nuttallanthus
Otacanthus
Ourisia
Paederota
Parahebe (now included in Veronica)
Penstemon - Beardtongue
Picria
Picrorhiza
Plantago
Poskea (formerly belonging to Globulariaceae)
Psammetes
Pseudorontium
Rhodochiton
Russelia
Sairocarpus
Schistophragma
Schweinfurthia
Scoparia
Scrofella
Sibthorpia
Stemodia
Synthyris - Kittentails (now included in Veronica)
Tetranema
Tetraulacium
Tonella
Uroskinnera
Veronica - Speedwell, Brooklime
Veronicastrum
Wulfenia
Wulfeniopsis

[edit] References

Albach, D. C., Meudt, H. M. & Oxelman, B. 2005. Piecing together the "new" Plantaginaceae. American Journal of Botany 92: 297-315.
Olmstead, R. G., dePamphilis, C. W., Wolfe, A. D., Young, N. D., Elisons, W. J. & Reeves P. A. 2001. Disintegration of the Scrophulariaceae. American Journal of Botany 88: 348-361 - on line here.
Olmstead, R. G. 2003. Whatever happened to the Scrophulariaceae? Fremontia 30: 13-22 (available online here).
Oxelman, B.; Kornhall, P.; Olmstead, R.G.; Bremer, B. 2005. Further disintegration of the Scrophulariaceae. Taxon 54(2): 411-425.
Rahmanzadeh, R., K. Müller, E. Fischer, D. Bartels & T. Borsch. 2005. The Linderniaceae and Gratiolaceae are further lineages distinct from the Scrophulariaceae (Lamiales). Pl. Biol. ( Stuttgart) 7: 67-78.