1. Rosids – Malvids: Brassicales - Malvales - Sapindales
Spring 2014

2. Fig. 8.30

3. Core Eudicots: Rosids-Malvids
Order Brassicales
Brassicaceae* – Mustards
Order Malvales
Malvaceae* – Mallows, cotton, chocolate
Order Sapindales
Sapindaceae* – Maples, lychee
Rutaceae – Citrus
*family required for recognition

4. Rosids-Malvids: Brassicales: Brassicaceae (‘Cruciferae’ - The Mustard Family)
Cosmopolitan, most diverse in the Mediterranean region, SW Asia, and western North America
Herbs, shrubs or trees; (sometimes herbs); glucosinolates (mustard oils) present in all taxa
Diversity: 3,400-3,700 species in genera
Flowers: Sepals 4; petals 4 (cruciform), often clawed; stamens 6, all + equal or usually 2 shorter and 4 longer (tetradynamous); carpels usually 2, connate, superior ovary; fruit a capsule, usually dehiscing by splitting into 2 valves leaving a persistent cross-wall, a silique or silicle
Significant features: 4-merous flowers; often pioneers after disturbance
Special uses: Many important food plants – cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi (Brassica oleracea), turnip (Brassica rapa), mustards (Brassica spp.), horseradish (Armoracia rusticana), and a wide range of ornamentals
Required family; required genus: Brassica

5. tetradynamous stamens
Brassicaceae
clawed petals
tetradynamous stamens
(2 short + 4 long)
cruciform petals
silique - silicle

6. Arabidopsis thaliana
The model plant of
choice for much of
molecular biology.

7. Brassicaceae: Brassica
-annuals or biennials
-at least the lower leaves
deeply pinnatifid, lyrate
or pinnate
-racemes without bracts
-sepals erect during anthesis
-petals yellow
-ovary and silique with a
prominent beak
30+ species

8. Brassica
oleracea

9. spring ephemerals
ornamentals
Brassicaceae

10. Brassicaceae – often weedy or pioneering

11. Brassicaceae
Garlic mustard
(Alliaria petiolata)
Kill it!

12. Rosids-Malvids: Malvales: Malvaceae (The Mallow Family)
Cosmopolitan
Trees, shrubs, lianas or herbs; vegetative parts with mucilage; leaves often palmately veined and lobed (may be pinnately veined) or palmately compound; stellate hairs
Diversity: 4,200 species in ca. 250 genera
Flowers: Sepals & petals 5, calyx valvate; stamens 5 to many, monadelphous or polydelphous; carpels 2 to many, connate, superior ovary; fruit usually a loculicidal capsule, also berry, samara, schizocarp, or drupe
Significant features: basic inflorescence unit a modified, 3-bracted cyme; flowers often associated with conspicuous bracts forming an epicalyx; nectaries of densely packed, multicellular glandular hairs, usually on sepals
Special uses: cotton (Gossypium), cacao or chocolate (Theobroma), durian (Durio), balsa wood (Ochroma); many ornamentals, e.g. hibiscus (Hibiscus)
Required family

13. Malvaceae
Monadelphous stamens
Polydelphous stamens

14. Theobroma cacao

15. Malvaceae: Gossypium -subshrubs to shrubs -seeds + globular, often
with hair (lint)

16. Malvaceae: Gossypium -subshrubs to shrubs -seeds + globular, often
with hair (lint)
epicalyx

17. Rosids-Malvids: Sapindales: Sapindaceae (The Maple Family)
Mainly tropical and subtropical, a few diverse in the temperate zone (e.g., Acer, Aesculus)
Trees, shrubs or lianas with tendrils
Diversity: 1,450-1,580 species in genera
Flowers: Unisexual or bisexual; sepals & petals 4-5, petals often clawed, with more or less basal appendages adaxially; usually an extrastaminal nectar disk present; stamens 8 or fewer (rarely up to 12), filaments usually hairy or papillose; carpels 2 or 3, connate, superior ovary; fruit a capsule, berry, or schizocarp; seeds with a deep fold or pocket in the seed coat
Significant features: presence of saponins in many
Special uses: lumber, maple syrup (Acer saccharum); many ornamentals; tropical fruits (longan, lychee, rambutan)
Required family; required genus: Acer

18. Sapindaceae: Acer -trees or sometimes shrubs
-leaves opposite, simple and
palmately lobed, rarely pinnately
or palmately compound
-calyx usually 5-lobed
-petals 0 or as many as the calyx lobes
-ovary with 2 connate, winged carpels,
2 ovules per carpel
-fruit a schizocarp, splitting into 2
samaroid mericarps
Some treatments retain this as Aceraceae!

19. Rosids-Malvids: Sapindales: Rutaceae (The Citrus Family)
Nearly cosmopolitan, primarily tropical to subtropical
Trees or shrubs, sometimes with thorns, spines or prickles
Diversity: 1,800-1,900 species in genera
Flowers: Sepals & petals 4 – 5; stamens 8-10; annular nectar disk; carpels 4-5 to many, connate, superior ovary; axile placentation; fruit a drupe, capsule, samara, cluster of follicles or modified berry with leathery, glandular rind (i.e., hesperidium in Citrus).
Significant features: Aromatic oils chemically complex; simple or compound leaves with pellucid dots containing aromatic ethereal oils
Special uses: many desirable fruits - oranges, lemons, limes, tangerine, grapefruit (Citrus), kumquat (Fortunella), several ornamentals, e.g. cork tree (Phellodendron)
Family not required

20. Pellucid dots

21. Rutaceae: Citrus
-fruit a hesperidium