Heliotropiaceae

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Heliotropiaceae are a cosmopolitan family of flowering plants with approximately 450 species worldwide, though it is concentrated especially in the tropics and subtropics.[1]

The following are the four genera in the family:

Ixorhea is sister to Euploca and Myriopus.[2] Together they form a clade sister to Heliotropium, which comprises four major clades: Heliotropium sect. Heliothamnus I.M.Johnst., Old World Heliotropium, Heliotropium sect. Cochranea (Miers) Post & Kuntze, and the Tournefortia-clade, the latter comprising Tournefortia sect. Tournefortia and all remaining New World species of Heliotropium.[3][4]

History

Prior to a 2016 revision, Heliotropiaceae were considered a subfamily of the

anatropous ovules in Heliotropiaceae as well as the presence of long suspensors and endosperm haustoria in Boraginaceae drove the earliest divide between the two families in the literature. Later, molecular data collected from a variety of families in the Boraginales collectively indicated that the Hydrophyllaceae were sister to the Heliotropiaceae, something that rendered the Boraginaceae paraphyletic.[5]

Morphology

In broad terms, members of the Heliotropiaceae are quite diverse in that they can be small trees, lianas, shrubs, sub-shrubs, or even perennial or annual herbs. However they all have

actinomorphic corollas. These plants are also characterized by their terminal styles
and

highly modified stigmatic heads (basal stigma, infertile apex) as well as by their fruits (one or two-seeded mericarpids or drupes).

scorpioid cymose inflorescences.[1]

References

  1. ^
    ISSN 0040-0262
    .
  2. S2CID 11954615
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  3. ISSN 0006-8152
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  4. doi:10.1002/tax.603004
    .
  5. ^
    PMID 21669738
    .
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