Classification of Mangoliidae: 3 Families | Angiosperms

In this article we will discuss about the classification of Mangoliidae:- 1. Magnoliaceae 2. Lauraceae 3. Piperaceae.

Family # 1. Magnoliaceae:

Salient Features of Magnoliaceae:

Magnolia, trees and shrubs, leaves alternate, simple, stipulate. Stipules large and enclosing the young buds, falling quickly and leaving scar at the node. Flower perfect, often large, many separate sepals, petals or undifferentiated, stamen and carpel.

The genus Magnolia is one of the most ancient among flowering trees. Growing to 30 meters (100 ft.); Cucumber tree is the most widespread and hardy of the eight Magnolia species native to United State and the only Magnolia native of Canada.

The earliest flowering plants date back to about 130 million years. According to Cronquist (Evolution and Classification of Flowering Plants) the most primitive of all living angiosperms belong to the subclass Magnoliidae.

The family has approximately 225 species and 7 genera, distributed across East and North America, Mexico, Central America, West Indies, Tropical South America, Southern and Eastern India, Sri Lanka, Indochina, Malesia, China, Japan and Korea.

Vegetative Characters of Magnoliaceae:

Generally trees or shrubs, the plants are perennial.

Leaves:

Alternate, Simple, Sometimes lobed, thick and large.

Floral Characters of Magnoliaceae:

Inflorescence:

Generally solitary, axillary or terminal.

Flowers:

Bisexual (Except Kmeria and some species of Magnolia section gynopodium), Actinomorphic, Elongated receptacle. Flowers large and showy.

Perianth:

Generally inseparable from calyx and corolla. Six to many, Free arranged spirally on the axis.

Androecium:

Numerous, short filament, polyandrous, poorly differentiated from anther.

Gynoecium:

Numerous, distinct (Apocarpous) arranged on elongated receptacle. Carpels are thick to avoid damage by beetles who land, crawl and feast on them.

Fruits:

Aggregate of follicles usually become closely appressed at maturity and open along abaxial surface.

Seed:

Fleshy seed coat colour ranging from red to orange (except Liriodendron) seed of Magnolia are bird dispersed while that of Liriodendron is wind dispersed.

Pollination:

Magnoliaceae is beetle pollinated except Liriodendron which is bee pollinated.

Biogeography of Magnoliaceae:

The geographical distribution of Magnoliaceae has become disjunct or fragmented as a result of major geological events such as ice bergs, continental drift and mountain formation.

This pattern isolated some species. Most species of Magnoliaceae are widely distributed in temperate and tropical Asia from Himalayas to Japan and Southwest through Malaysia and New Guinea. 2/3 of the species are in Asia while the rest in America.

Systematics:

Due to great deal of family wide morphological similarity, no consensus has yet emerged on the number of genera in the family. The development of DNA sequencing at the end of the 20^th century has a profound impact on the research of phylogenetic relationships within the family.

The employment of ndhF and DNA sequences have refuted many of the traditionally accepted phylogenetic relationships within magnoliaceae.

For example: it has shown the genera Magnolia and Michelia to be paraphvletic when the remaining four genera of many subgenera like Magnolia subg. Magnolia, Magnolia subg. Talauma are paraphyletic. Although completely resolved phylogeny for the family has yet to be determined.

Economic Significance of Magnoliaceae:

A. Medicinal:

Generally Magnolias have a rich healing quality and are used in China.

1. Magnolia officinalis:

Bark, Large leaves, fragrant white flowers etc. used as a remedy for cramps, abdominal pain, nausea, diarrhoea and indigestion. Recently the bark is used as an alternative medicine in the West in the form of tablets for anxiety, allergies asthma and weight-loss. It has anti-bacterial and anti-fungal properties as well.

2. Magnolia liliiflora:

Buds are used to treat chronic respiratory infections sinus infections, Lungs congestion etc.

B. Ornamental:

1. Cucumber tree: Magnolia acuminata

2. Saucar Magnolia: Magnolia soulangiana

3. Southern Magnolia: Magnolia grandiflora

4. Star Magnolia: Magnolia stellata

5. Laurel Magnolia (Sweet Bay): Mongolia Virginiana

6. Galaxy hybrid: Magnolia liliflora x sprengeri

7. Tulip tree: Liriodendron tulipiflora

8. Champa: Michelia champaca:, M. nilogrica, M. alba, M. excelsa

C. Timber Wood:

1. Talauma phellocarpa

2. Manglietia

3. Pachylarnax

D. Oil:

Illicium verum:

Essential oil for colic disorder.

Illicium griffxthii:

Star Anis.

Classification:

Magnoliaceae is divided into two subfamilies.

Subfamily 1. Magnolieae:

It is divided into two tribes.

(a) Tribe- Magnolieae:

It has 4 genera:

(i) Magnolia (128 species),

(ii) Kmeria (5 species),

(iii) Manglietia (29 species), and 

(iv) Pachylarnax (2 species).

(b) Tribe- Michelieae:

It includes 2 genera:

(i) Elmerrillia (4 species)

(ii) Michelia (49 species)

Subfamily 2. Liriodendroidae:

One genera:

Liriodendron (2 species).

Classification according to APG system:

Kingdom: Plantae

Unranked: Angiosperm

Unranked: Magnoliids

Order: Magnoliales

Family: Magnoliaceae

Family # 2. Lauraceae:

The Lauraceae or Laurel family comprises of a group of flowering plants included in the order Laurales. The family contains about 54 genera and 2000— 2500 species distributed world-wide, mostly from warm to tropical regions. South- East Asia and Brazil.

Vegetative Characters of Lauraceae:

Generally, the plants are large trees or shrubs. They are aromatic evergreen types Sassafras is deciduous and Cassytha is a parasitic vine. Trees of the Laurel family predominate in the world’s laurel forest which occurs in a few humid subtropical and mild temperate regions of the Northern and Southern hemisphere, including Macronesian Islands, Southern Japan, Medagasear and Central Chile.

Leaves:

Generally evergreen, large, alternate rarely opposite or whorled. Usually spiral, leathery, petiolate, gland dotted, aromatic, simple, exstipulate, lamina entire, lobed in Sassafras.

Floral Characters of Lauraceae:

Inflorescence:

Flower solitary (rarely), or cymose or racemose inflorescence. Axillary, often umbelliform, with or without involucral bracts.

Flowers:

Small, often fragrant, actinomorphic, usually trimerous, cyclic, free hypanthium present. Hypogynous.

Perianth:

With distinct calyx and corolla or undifferentiated 6 or 4, free, whorled, sepaloid or petaloid green, white, cream or yellow, fleshy, persistent or deciduous.

Androecium:

3— many polyandrous, attached to hypanthium, in 1-4 whorls. Generally all fertile or including innermost whorl as staminodes. Anther dithecous basifixed, introrse.

Gynoecium:

1-3 carpels, unilocular, pseudomonomerous, superior, inferior in Hypodaphnis. Ovule pendulous.

Fruit:

Usually fleshy drupaceous or baccate; fruit enclosed in the fleshy receptacle or hypanthium.

Seed:

Non endospermic, Cotyledons massive, occasionally ruminate.

Economic Significance of Lauraceae:

Generally the plants are important for high contents of essential oil and wood.

1. Per sea americana: Avacado Pear. Oil rich fruit is edible.

2. Cinnamomum camphora: Camphor (Kapoor).

3. Cinnamomum zeylenicum: Cinnamon (Dalchini).

4. Laurus-Cinnamomum tamela: Bay Laurel (Tejpat).

5. Lindera: Spice bush (Benzoin or Loban).

6. Sassafras: Sassafras Fragrent wood for cabinets and furniture.

Systamatics:

Lauraceae is having multiple classification schemes based on a variety of morphological and anatomical characteristics. According to Judd (2007) the supra generic classification proposed by Vander Werff and Richter (1996) is currently the authority. The classification is based on both inflorescence structure, wood and bark anatomy.

It divides Lauraceae into two subfamilies:

1. Cassythoideae, and

2. Lauroideae.

The Cassythoideae comprises a single genus, Casiytha, and is defined by its herbaceous, parasitic habit.

The Lauroidaeae is divided into three tribes:

1. Laureae,

2. Perseae, and

3. Cryptocaryeae.

Embryological evidences do not fully support Cassythoideae. The Laureae and Perseeae tribes are not well supported by any molecular or embryological studies. However, Cryptocaryeae tribe is partially supported by molecular and embryological studies.

Classification:

Subclass: Magnolideae

Superorder: Magnolianae

Order: Laurales.

Family # 3. Piperaceae:

Piperceae also known as the pepper family is a large family of flowering plants. The group consists of 5 genera and 3,610 species. The vast majority of peppers can be found within the two main genera Piper (2000 sp) en Pepromia (1600 species).

The name Piperaceae is likely to be derived from the Sanskrit term ‘pippali’ which was used to describe long peppers (like Piper longum).

The family members are distributed in tropics of both the hemispheres.

Vegetative Characters of Piperaceae:

Members are small trees, shrubs or erect or scandent herbs. Some are lianas, bearing essential oils.

Root & Stem:

Plants are often rhizomatous, and can be terrestrial or epiphytic. Stem can be either simple or branched. The vascular bundles are more or less scattered recalling the arrangement of monocots. Stem frequently is succulent in herbaceous members with often swollen or jointed nodes.

Leaves:

Simple, Alternate, spiral, herbaceous or fleshy, petiolate, sheathing leaf base, leaf sheath not tubular, with free margin. Rarely opposite or whorled. Stipulate, stipule intrapetiolar (adnate), gland dotted, aromatic, Lamina pinnately or palmately veined.

Hydathodes are common, mesophyll with spherical etherial oil cells, stomata anisocytic or cyclocytic. Stipules are absent in Pepromia. A well developed aquous tissue is found below the upper epidermis in the leaves of Pepromia. Resin or oil containing secretory canals are present in the different parts of plants giving a sour aromatic taste.

Floral Characters of Piperaceae:

Inflorescence:

Terminal, axillary or leaf opposed due to pushing aside by axillary bud. Spike. Sometimes umbellate spike.

Flower:

Minute, naked, bisexual or unisexual more or less sunken in the fleshy axis of the spike on which they are closely arranged.

Perianth:

Absent.

Androecium:

Stamen1—many, Hypogynous, mostly consists of 6 stamens arranged in two whorls of 3 each. Filaments free or confluent (Seems to be adhered) dithecous, dehiscing by longitudinal slits.

Gynoecium:

Bi or penta-carpellary, ovary superior, syncapous with a so called basal ovule. Style short or absent. In Pepromia the ovule has a single integument the style is brush like and lateral in position.

Flowers of the different members from this family are probably derived from a trimerous type represented by Piper amalago; with two whorls of 3 stamens and a tricarpellary gynoecium.

In other species of Piper two posterior stamens of the other whorl or whole of the inner whorl is absent. In Piper nigrum and species of Pepromia where there are only two stamens present, the posterior stamen of inner whorl is also avoided. In Piper section ottomia the flowers are tetramerous.

The solitary ovule is described as basal in Pepromia has brought forward some anatomical evidence to show that a simple apparently basal ovule has been derived from the lateral position. Similarly, he also suspects the condition of Piper to be a derived one.

Sometimes the condition of the gynoecium of Piper is described as monocarpellary and the three stigma as three lobes of a stigma. The vascular anatomy shows that there is little doubt that the Piper gynoecium consists of three carpels. This is supported by the fact that three are there dorsal bundles present in the ovary wall continuing upto stigma.

Thus the gynoecium is Pseudomonomerous type:

Fruit:

Small drupe.

Seed:

Endospermic with minute embryo.

Economic Importance of Piperaceae:

The family shows considerable importance:

1. Piper nigrum:

Source black pepper (Ripe fruit) or white pepper (Unripe fruit) used medicinally also.

2. Piper longum:

(Peepli) or (peepal) used medicinally in asthma.

3. Piper methysticum:

Narcotic beverage, medicinal in small quantity

4. Piper betal:

Paan, Leaves Edible.

5. Micropiper sp:

Ornamental for beautiful foliage.

6. Pepromia sp:

Ornamental for beautiful foliage.

7. Piper amalago:

Ornamental for beautiful foliage.

Systematic position:

Engler and Prantl considered the family as primitive among dicots. It has been placed in the order piperales by Engler which has been assigned next to Casuarinales. However, Hallier, Bessey, Hutchinson etc., considered the family rather of doubt-full origin, from an independent and terminal shoot or direct from Ranalian ancestry.

Classification:

The APG III systems of 2009 recognizes this family and assign it to the order Piperales in the unranked clade Magnoliids. The family consists of 5 genera Piper, Pepromia, Zippellia Manekia and Verhuellia. The previously recognized pacific genus Macropiper was recently merged into Piper.

The cladogram showing relationship based on Wanke 2007 is as follows:

The phylogeny was based on 6000 base pairs of chloroplast DNA. Only recently it has become clear that Verhuellia is sister to other four genera in the family.

The family is divided into:

1. Subfamily Verhuellioideae Samain & Wanke.

Verhuellia Miquel 1843 (3 species)

2. Subfamily Zippelioideae Samain & Wanke.

Zippelia Blum 1830 (1 sp.)

Manekia Treleae 1927 (6 species).

3. Subfamily Piperoideae Arnott.

Piper Linneaus 1753 (2000 sp.)

Peromia Reeiz and pavon 1794 (1600 sp.)

Kingdom: Plantae

Unranked: Angiosperms

Unranked: Magnoliids

Order: Piperales.

Family: Piperaceae.