Sassafras LAURACEAE
magnoliids monocots Current Angiosperm Phylogeny Group Tree for Flowering Plants 2010
LAURACEAE current history of the order Laurales - APG website
folded carpel portion ascidiate base stamens Lauraceae - flower development
Ocotea lancifolia, Photo of W. Thomas
Cineole from Laurus nobilis Linalool from Aniba (Brazilian rosewood) Safrole from Sassafras Cinnamaldehyde, from Cinnamomum (cinnamon) A cabinet of ethereal oils from the Lauraceae
essential (ethereal) oils: more or less volatile and often aromatic substances made up of various kinds of terpenes terpenes Terpenes (terpenoids) : usually hydrophilic compounds consisting of an isoprenoid skeleton, subdivided according to number of carbon atoms isoprenoid 10 = mono 15 = sesqui 20 = di Isoprene (isoprenoid) : a volatile unsaturated branched chain five-carbon hydrocarbon that is the basic unit of terpenes terpenes Isoprene, C5 H8.
monoterpenoids : with a base of C10 H16, they occur in essential oils and are made up of one or two isoprene rings or an open chain of isoprene units; essential oils isoprene They are colorless, water-insoluble, volatile, with fragrant odor. All of these are also found in the Lauraceae
Sassafras Beilschmiedia etc. Gondwana genera Persea - avocado Lindera - spicebush Laurus - bayleaf Cinnamomum Ocotea boreotropicalmadrean- neotropical austral DNA: ybp worldwide
Persea americana - the avocado i - morning phase j - afternoon phase
Persea borbonia - red bay
Beilschmiedia and the resplendant quetzal
Ocotea-Nectandra
Key Characters: Magnoliid syndrome Green twigs, ascending secondaries, leaves clustered Tiny flowers with 2–3 stamen whorls and flap dehiscence Fruits with cupules
Chanderbali, A.S, van der Werff, H., Renner, S.S Phylogeny and historical biogeography of Lauraceae: Evidence from the chloroplast and nuclear genomes. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 88: Gottlieb, O. R Chemosystematics of the Lauraceae. Phytochemistry, 11: The various chemical constituents of the Lauraceae are discussed in relation to the taxonomy of the family. Although there is a great paucity of data, the variation in the arylpropanoids, alkaloids, flavanoids and terpene constituents is in general in agreement with the subdivision of the family put forward by Kostermans. Qiu, Y.-L. Lee, J., Bernasconi-Quadroni, F., Soltis, D.E., Soltis, P.S., Zanis, M., Zimmer, E.A., Chen, Z. Savolainen, V. Chase, M.W Phylogeny of basal angiosperms: analyses of five genes from three genomes. Int. J. Plant Sci. 161 (6 Suppl.): S3-S27. Simić, A., Soković, M. D., Ristić, M., Grujić ‐ Jovanović, S., Vukojević, J., & Marin, P. D. (2004). The chemical composition of some Lauraceae essential oils and their antifungal activities. Phytotherapy Research, 18(9), Soltis, D.E., Soltis, P.S., Albert, V.A., Oppenheimer, D.G, dePamphilis, C.W., Frohlich, M.W., Theißen, G Missing links: The genetic arcitecture of the flower and floral diversification. Trends Plant Sci. 7: Lauraceae references: