Taxaceae
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 |
||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 A fleshy aril partly surrounds each seed in the
yews; note also immature cones with seed not yet surrounded by the aril |
||||||||||
| Scientific classification | ||||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||
|
Taxaceae sensu stricto |
The family Taxaceae, commonly called the yew family, includes three genera and about 7 to 12 species of coniferous plants, or in other interpretations (see Classification, below), six genera and about 30 species.
They are much branched, small trees and shrubs. The leaves are evergreen, spirally arranged, often twisted at the base to appear 2-ranked. They are linear to lanceolate, and have pale green or white stomatal bands on the undersides. The plants are dioecious, rarely monoecious. The male cones are 2-5 mm long, and shed pollen in the early spring. The female cones are highly reduced, with just one ovuliferous scale and one seed. As the seed matures, the ovuliferous scale develops into a fleshy aril partly enclosing the seed. The mature aril is brightly coloured, soft, juicy and sweet, and is eaten by birds which then disperse the hard seed undamaged in their droppings.
[edit] References
- Anderson, E. & Owens, J. N. (2003). Analysing the reproductive biology of Taxus: should it be included in Coniferales? Acta Hort. 615: 233-234. (conclusion is 'yes')
- Chase, M. W. et al. (1993). Phylogenetics of seed plants, an analysis of nucleotide sequences from the plastid gene rbcL. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 80: 528-580.
- Price, R. A. (2003). Generic and familial relationships of the Taxaceae from rbcL and matK sequence comparisons. Acta Hort. 615: 235-237.
|
Links to other Pinophyta families |
| Pinaceae | Araucariaceae | Podocarpaceae | Sciadopityaceae | Cupressaceae | Cephalotaxaceae | Taxaceae |
