Sapindales
Encyclopedia
Sapindales is a botanical name
for an order of flowering plant
s. Well-known members of Sapindales include citrus
; maple
s, horse-chestnuts, lychee
s and rambutan
s; mango
s and cashew
s; frankincense
and myrrh
; mahogany
and neem
.
The APG II system
of 2003 includes it in the clade
eurosids II (in rosids
, in eudicots
) including the following 9 families:
(with "+ ..." = optional segregate of the preceding family)
The Cronquist system
of 1981 used a somewhat different circumscription, including the following families:
The difference from the APG II system is not as large as may appear, as the plants in the families Aceraceae and Hippocastanaceae stay in this order at APG II (both included in family Sapindaceae). The species now comprising the family Nitrariaceae in APG II also belonged to this order in the Cronquist system as part of the family Zygophyllaceae, while those now in the family Kirkiaceae were present as part of the family Simaroubaceae.
Botanical name
A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar and/or Group epithets must conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants...
for an order of flowering plant
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
s. Well-known members of Sapindales include citrus
Citrus
Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the rue family, Rutaceae. Citrus is believed to have originated in the part of Southeast Asia bordered by Northeastern India, Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China...
; maple
Maple
Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...
s, horse-chestnuts, lychee
Lychee
The lychee is the sole member of the genus Litchi in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae. It is a tropical and subtropical fruit tree native to Southern China and Southeast Asia, and now cultivated in many parts of the world...
s and rambutan
Rambutan
The rambutan is a medium-sized tropical tree in the family Sapindaceae, and the fruit of this tree. It is native to Vietnam, Indonesia, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, and elsewhere in Southeast Asia, although its precise natural distribution is unknown. It is closely related to several...
s; mango
Mango
The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...
s and cashew
Cashew
The cashew is a tree in the family Anacardiaceae. Its English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree, caju, which in turn derives from the indigenous Tupi name, acajú. It is now widely grown in tropical climates for its cashew nuts and cashew apples.-Etymology:The...
s; frankincense
Frankincense
Frankincense, also called olibanum , is an aromatic resin obtained from trees of the genus Boswellia, particularly Boswellia sacra, B. carteri, B. thurifera, B. frereana, and B. bhaw-dajiana...
and myrrh
Myrrh
Myrrh is the aromatic oleoresin of a number of small, thorny tree species of the genus Commiphora, which grow in dry, stony soil. An oleoresin is a natural blend of an essential oil and a resin. Myrrh resin is a natural gum....
; mahogany
Mahogany
The name mahogany is used when referring to numerous varieties of dark-colored hardwood. It is a native American word originally used for the wood of the species Swietenia mahagoni, known as West Indian or Cuban mahogany....
and neem
Neem
Azadirachta indica is a tree in the mahogany family Meliaceae. It is one of two species in the genus Azadirachta, and is native to India growing in tropical and semi-tropical regions. Its fruits and seeds are the source of neem oil...
.
The APG II system
APG II system
The APG II system of plant classification is the second, now obsolete, version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy that was published in April 2003 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. It was a revision of the first APG system, published in 1998, and was superseded in 2009...
of 2003 includes it in the clade
Clade
A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...
eurosids II (in rosids
Rosids
The rosids are members of a large clade of flowering plants, containing about 70,000 species, more than a quarter of all angiosperms. The clade is divided into 16 to 20 orders, depending upon circumscription and classification. These orders, in turn, together comprise about 140 families...
, in eudicots
Eudicots
Eudicots and Eudicotyledons are botanical terms introduced by Doyle & Hotton to refer to a monophyletic group of flowering plants that had been called tricolpates or non-Magnoliid dicots by previous authors...
) including the following 9 families:
- AnacardiaceaeAnacardiaceaeAnacardiaceae are a family of flowering plants bearing fruits that are drupes and in some cases producing urushiol, an irritant. Anacardiaceae include numerous genera with several of economic importance. Notable plants in this family include cashew , mango, poison ivy, sumac, smoke tree, and marula...
- Biebersteiniaceae
- BurseraceaeBurseraceaeBurseraceae is a moderate-sized family of 17-18 genera and about 540 species of flowering plants. The actual numbers differ according to the time period in which a given source is written describing this family. The Burseraceae is also known as the Torchwood family, the frankincense and myrrh...
- KirkiaceaeKirkiaceaeKirkiaceae is a family of flowering plant in the order Sapindales. It comprises two genera, Kirkia and Pleikirkia, totalling six species...
- MeliaceaeMeliaceaeThe Meliaceae, or the Mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs in the order Sapindales....
- NitrariaceaeNitrariaceaeNitrariaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales. It comprises three genera, Nitraria, Peganum and Tetradiclis, totalling 16 species....
(+ Peganaceae and Tetradiclidaceae) - RutaceaeRutaceaeRutaceae, commonly known as the rue or citrus family, is a family of flowering plants, usually placed in the order Sapindales.Species of the family generally have flowers that divide into four or five parts, usually with strong scents...
- SapindaceaeSapindaceaeSapindaceae, also known as the soapberry family, is a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales. There are about 140-150 genera with 1400-2000 species, including maple, horse chestnut and lychee....
- SimaroubaceaeSimaroubaceaeThe Simaroubaceae is a small, mostly tropical, family in the order Sapindales. In recent decades it has been subject to much taxonomic debate, with several small families being split off...
(with "+ ..." = optional segregate of the preceding family)
The Cronquist system
Cronquist system
The Cronquist system is a taxonomic classification system of flowering plants. It was developed by Arthur Cronquist in his texts An Integrated System of Classification of Flowering Plants and The Evolution and Classification of Flowering Plants .Cronquist's system places flowering plants into two...
of 1981 used a somewhat different circumscription, including the following families:
- StaphyleaceaeStaphyleaceaeStaphyleaceae is a small family of five genera of flowering plants in the order Crossosomatales, native to the Northern Hemisphere and also in South America. The genus Staphylea, which gives the family its name, contains the "bladdernut" trees.Genera...
- MelianthaceaeMelianthaceaeThe Melianthaceae is a family of flowering plants. The APG II system includes them within the rosid clade. All members of the Melianthaceae proper are trees or shrubs found in tropical and southern Africa...
- Bretschneideraceae
- AkaniaceaeAkaniaceaeAkaniaceae is a family of flowering plants in order Brassicales. It comprises two monotypic genera, Akania and Bretschneidera....
- SapindaceaeSapindaceaeSapindaceae, also known as the soapberry family, is a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales. There are about 140-150 genera with 1400-2000 species, including maple, horse chestnut and lychee....
- HippocastanaceaeHippocastanaceaethumb|230pxHippocastanaceae is the name given to a small group of trees and shrubs, when this group is treated as a family. Its most widespread genus is Aesculus . However, the American genus Billia and the Chinese genus Handeliodendron are also sometimes included in this family...
- AceraceaeAceraceaeAceraceae is a family of flowering plants also called the Maple Family. It contains two to four genera, depending upon the circumscription, of some 120 species of trees and shrubs. A common characteristic is that the leaves are opposite, and the fruit a schizocarp.The maples have long been known...
- BurseraceaeBurseraceaeBurseraceae is a moderate-sized family of 17-18 genera and about 540 species of flowering plants. The actual numbers differ according to the time period in which a given source is written describing this family. The Burseraceae is also known as the Torchwood family, the frankincense and myrrh...
- AnacardiaceaeAnacardiaceaeAnacardiaceae are a family of flowering plants bearing fruits that are drupes and in some cases producing urushiol, an irritant. Anacardiaceae include numerous genera with several of economic importance. Notable plants in this family include cashew , mango, poison ivy, sumac, smoke tree, and marula...
- Julianiaceae
- SimaroubaceaeSimaroubaceaeThe Simaroubaceae is a small, mostly tropical, family in the order Sapindales. In recent decades it has been subject to much taxonomic debate, with several small families being split off...
- CneoraceaeCneoraceaeCneoraceae is a Mediterranean relict shrub family that evolved under tropical conditions during the Tertiary age. It is a dicot that generally favours higher altitudes and is rich in tannin...
- MeliaceaeMeliaceaeThe Meliaceae, or the Mahogany family, is a flowering plant family of mostly trees and shrubs in the order Sapindales....
- RutaceaeRutaceaeRutaceae, commonly known as the rue or citrus family, is a family of flowering plants, usually placed in the order Sapindales.Species of the family generally have flowers that divide into four or five parts, usually with strong scents...
- ZygophyllaceaeZygophyllaceaeThe Zygophyllaceae is a family of flowering plants that contains the bean-caper and caltrop. It includes around 285 species in 22 genera.In the APG III system of classification, the families Zygophyllaceae and Krameriaceae compose the order Zygophyllales...
The difference from the APG II system is not as large as may appear, as the plants in the families Aceraceae and Hippocastanaceae stay in this order at APG II (both included in family Sapindaceae). The species now comprising the family Nitrariaceae in APG II also belonged to this order in the Cronquist system as part of the family Zygophyllaceae, while those now in the family Kirkiaceae were present as part of the family Simaroubaceae.