Theophrastaceae

• A monograph of the neotropical family Theophrastaceae recognizes seven genera, viz., Bonellia with 20 species distributed in Mesoamerica, the Greater Antilles and northern South America; Clavija with 56 species distributed from Nicaragua to northern Paraguay and one species in Haiti; Deherainia with two species in Mesoamerica; Jacquinia with 13 species in the Antilles and South America; Neomezia with one species in Cuba; Theophrasta with two species in Hispaniola; and Votschia with one species in Panama. Most species grow in lowland areas with a seasonal, dry climate, occurring in habitats such as coastal thickets, dry shrub vegetation, or dry deciduous or semideciduous forests. However, many species of Clavija are distributed in lower montane and lowland rain forests. The family is characterized by having extraxylary, subepidermal sclerenchyma forming layers or bundles of fiber cells on one or both sides of the leaf, robust flowers with staminodial appendages merged with the corolla tube, and anthers partly filled with accumulations of calcium oxalate crystals. All species are woody plants, ranging in habit from dwarf shrubs to small trees 10—15 m tall. Clavija, Neomezia, and Theophrasta are pachycaulous, without or with only very few side-branches, whereas the other genera are more or less densely branched shrubs and small trees. The flowers of Deherainia, Neomezia, and Theophrasta have a foetid scent associated with myophily and sapromyophily, whereas the other genera, with a few exceptions, have flowers with a fruity or perfumed scent. The fruits are generally few-seeded and berrylike with a leathery or woody pericarp and a juicy, mostly sweet, placental pulp. The family is centered in the Caribbean area, with most genera and species occurring in the Antilles or Mesoamerica. It probably has an origin in tropical North America, and the radiation and diversification of Clavija on the South American continent is likely of relatively recent and largely connected to the Andean orogeny.

Ämnesord

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Biologi -- Biologisk systematik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Biological Sciences -- Biological Systematics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Theophrastaceae

Bonellia

Clavija

Deherainia

Jacquinia

Neomezia

Theophrasta

Votschia

taxonomy

systematics

neotropics

Systematics and phylogenetics

Systematik och fylogeni

Biology (HGO)

Biologi (HGO)

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)