(botany) An order of dicotyledonous flowering, mostly woody plants of the class Magnoliopsida, division Magnoliophyta; commonly have scattered spherical cells containing volatile oils, leaves usually simple and mostly entire, and flowers often pollinated by beetles.
Laurales
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An order of flowering plants composed of seven eumagnoliid families of tropical tree species that are important ecologically; some are shrubs. They include in total about 2500 species. They are most closely related to Magnoliales, from which they differ in their partly inferior ovaries and their biaperturate or inaperturate pollen, and then to Winterales and Piperales. Lauraceae (the laurel or cinnamon family) are the best known and largest, but Monimiaceae and its segregates are also important. Nearly all species have aromatic oils, which are important spices, perfumes, and medicines; their flowers are for the most part small and often arranged in distinct whorls, but some such as those of Calycanthaceae are large and much like those of Magnoliales in that parts are arranged spirally and intergrade.
Many species are important as timbers. Cinnamon and camphor come from Cinnamomum species, sassafras tea was formerly made from the roots of Sassafras albida (now discouraged due to its suspected carcinogenic nature), and avocado comes from Persea americana; several genera are cultivated as ornamentals, such as Calycanthus (Carolina allspice) and Chimonanthus (wintersweet; both Calycanthaceae); and Laurus (bay laurel) and Lindera (spice bush; both Lauraceae). See also Avocado; Camphor tree; Eumagnoliids; Magnoliales; Monocotyledons; Piperales; Sassafras.
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 Laurus nobilis flowers and leaves
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Atherospermataceae |
The Laurales are an order of flowering plants. They are a basal group of dicots, related to, and formerly sometimes included in, the Magnoliales.
The order includes about 2500-2800 species from 85-90 genera, which comprise seven families of trees and shrubs. Most of the species are tropical and subtropical, though a few genera reach the temperate zone. The best known species in this order are those of the Lauraceae (for example bay laurel or Laurus, cinnamon or Cinnamomum, avocado or Persea, and Sassafras), and the spice bush or Calycanthus of the Calycanthaceae.
The earliest lauraceous fossils are from to the early Cretaceous. It is possible that the ancient origin of this order is one of the reasons for its highly diverged morphology. Indeed, presently no single morphological property is known, which would unify all the members of Laurales. This fact used to cause much argument among botanists regarding the correct circumscription of the order, and the presently accepted classification is based on recent molecular and genetic analysis.
Classification
The following families are included in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system:
order Laurales
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Under the older Cronquist system, the Laurales included a slightly different set of families (current placement, where different, in brackets):
- Family Amborellaceae (Family Amborellaceae, unplaced)
- Family Calycanthaceae
- Family Gomortegaceae
- Family Hernandiaceae
- Family Idiospermaceae (= Calycanthaceae pro parte)
- Family Lauraceae
- Family Monimiaceae (Cronquist included Atherospermataceae and Siparunaceae in Monimiaceae)
- Family Trimeniaceae (Austrobaileyales)
References
- ^ Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2003). "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG II". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 141: 399–436. doi:. http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/links/doi/10.1046/j.1095-8339.2003.t01-1-00158.x/full/.
- ^ Soltis, P. S.; D. E. Soltis (2004). "The origin and diversification of Angiosperms". American Journal of Botany 91: 1614–1626. doi:. http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/abstract/91/10/1614.
- K.J. Perleb (1826). Lehrbuch der Naturgeschichte des Pflanzenreichs p. 174. Magner, Freiburg im Breisgau, Deutschland.
- Renner, Susanne S. (May 2001) Laurales. In: Nature Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. London: Nature Publishing Group. doi:10.1038/npg.els.0003695 Abstract, Full text (pdf).
- Renner S.S. (1999). Circumscription and phylogeny of the Laurales: evidence from molecular and morphological data. American Journal of Botany 86 (9): 1301-1315. Abstract, Full text (pdf).
- Endress P.K., Igersheim A. (1997). Gynoecium diversity and systematics of the Laurales. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 125 (2): 93-168. doi:10.1006/bojl.1997.0113 Abstract.
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 | Magnoliidae (magnoliophyta) |
| Magnoliales (magnoliophyta) |
| Eumagnoliids (magnoliophyta) |
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Mentioned in
- Magnoliidae (magnoliophyta)
- Magnoliales (magnoliophyta)
- Eumagnoliids (magnoliophyta)
- Piperales (magnoliophyta)
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