Geraniaceae

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Geraniaceae
Geranium rotundifolium
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Geraniales
Family: Geraniaceae
Juss.[1]
Type genus
Geranium
L.
Genera

Geraniaceae is a family of

Geranium (the cranesbills, or true geraniums) and the garden plants called geraniums, which modern botany classifies as genus Pelargonium
, along with other related genera.

The family comprises 830 species in five to seven genera. The largest genera are Geranium (430 species), Pelargonium (280 species) and Erodium (80 species).

Description

Flower diagram of Geranium pratense

Geraniaceae are herbs or subshrubs(have more height than herb but Shotter than herbs). The Sarcocaulon are succulent, but other members of the family generally are not.

Leaves are usually lobed or otherwise divided, sometimes

peltate, opposite or alternate and usually have stipules
.

The

spikes
.

Geraniaceae are normally pollinated by insects, but self-pollination is not uncommon.[citation needed] A number of species are pollinated by the fly Moegistorhynchus longirostris.[6]

The

style
of the flower, looking like a kind of long beak over the achenes. When the fruit is mature the style breaks into five (or three) hygroscopically active (ready to absorb water) bristles that curl, causing the achenes to be released.

Differences between the genera

anthers (called staminodes), but the lower half of the five fertile stamens is made much wider by a wing with a rounded top on each side of the narrow higher part of the filament that carries an anther. Geranium only has ten fertile stamens without wings and lacks staminodes, except for G. pusillum that only has five stamens. Monsonia only has fifteen fertile stamens, which are merged at their base into a ring or merged at their base in trios with the middle filament longer than the others, except for M. brevirostrata with only five stamens. Erodium has five staminodes and five fertile stamens, without wings. Pelargonium has ten filaments without wings, between two and seven of which are topped by anthers, while the remaining three to eight are staminodes lacking anthers, but it can easily be distinguished by having only one narrow tube-like nectary inside what looks like the flowerstalk.[2]

Taxonomy

Geraniaceae and Francoaceae are the two families included in the order Geraniales under the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) classification (APG IV).[7] There has been some uncertainty in the number of genera to be included. Stevens gives seven genera listed here,[8] while Christenhusz and Byng[9] state five genera.

Stevens also lists four synonyms of Geranium: Geraniopsis Chrtek Neurophyllodes (A. Gray) O. Degener Robertianum Picard Robertiella

Hypseocharis, with between one and three species, which comes from the south-west Andean region of South America, is considered the sister to the rest of the family. Some authors separate Hyspeocharis as a monogeneric family Hypseocharitaceae,[10] while older sources placed it in the Oxalidaceae. The genus Rhynchotheca has also been separated into the Vivianiaceae.

The Geraniaceae have a number of genetic features unique amongst angiosperms, including highly rearranged

genomes differing in gene content, order and expansion of the inverted repeat.[11]

Phylogeny

Recent comparison of DNA-fragments resulted in the following phylogenetic tree.[12]

Hypseocharitaceae

Geraniaceae

Pelargonium

Monsonia including Sarcocaulon

California

Erodium

Geranium

Distribution and habitat

Most species are found in temperate or warm temperate regions, though some are tropical. Pelargonium has its centre for diversity in the Cape region in South Africa, where there is a striking vegetative and floral variation.

Gallery

  • Herbarium specimen of Geranium rotundifolium showing mature fruits
    Herbarium specimen of Geranium rotundifolium showing mature fruits
  • Immature fruits of Erodium botrys
    Immature fruits of Erodium botrys
  • Actinomorphic flowers of Geranium pratense
    Actinomorphic flowers of Geranium pratense
  • Zygomorphic flowers of a garden geranium (genus Pelargonium)
    Zygomorphic flowers of a garden geranium (genus Pelargonium)
  • Cultivated Pelargonium umbels
    Cultivated Pelargonium umbels
  • Erodium cicutarium
    Erodium cicutarium
  • Another flower diagram (Pelargonium zonale, three abortive stamens)
    Another flower diagram (Pelargonium zonale, three abortive stamens)
  • Sarcocaulon crassicaule
    Sarcocaulon crassicaule
  • A bush with flowers
    A bush with flowers

References

  1. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x
    .
  2. ^ a b Aldasoro, Juan José; Navarro, Carmen; Vargas, Pablo; Sáez, Llorenç; Aedo, Carlos (2002). "California, a new genus of Geraniaceae endemic to the southwest of North America" (PDF). Anales del Jardín Botánico de Madrid. 59 (2): 209–216. Retrieved 2017-09-27.
  3. ^
    PMID 28961907
    .
  4. PMID 28025289
    .
  5. PMID 29293992
    .
  6. ISSN 1681-5556
    .
  7. ^ APG IV 2016.
  8. ^ Stevens 2016.
  9. ^ Christenhusz & Byng 2016.
  10. ^ Watson, L.; Dallwitz, M.J. (March 2011). "Angiosperm Families - Hypseocharitaceae Weddell". The families of flowering plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 4th. Archived from the original on October 9, 2012. Retrieved April 14, 2012.
  11. ^ Röschenbleck, J. , Albers, F., Müller, K., Weinl, S., Kudla, J. Phylogenetics, character evolution and a subgeneric revision of the genus Pelargonium (Geraniaceae). Phytotaxa Volume 159, Issue 2, 11 February 2014, Pages 31-76[permanent dead link]
  12. ^ Jeiter, Julius; Cole, Theodor C.H.; Hilger, Hartmut H. "Geraniales Phylogeny Poster (GPP) - 2017". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2017-09-27.

Bibliography

External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Geraniaceae.
Wikispecies has information related to Geraniaceae.
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