What is the largest family of flowering plants?

Answer 1

I am very surprised to find that no one has tried to answer this question. Perhaps i do not understand this website well enough to find where others have posted their answers. Since i do not have time to research a detailed answer right now, i will limit myself to naming what i think are the authoritative sources of information on this subject. I should perhaps mention that families are divided into groups called genera and that the genera are divided into species. I prefer to think of family size as the number of genera in the family, but i suppose that others would like to think of family size as the number of species. The largest plant family is clearly either Asteraceae or Orchidaceae. Asteraceae has by far the largest number of genera, about 1500. Orchidaceae, however, might have a larger number of species. There is not an accurate estimate on the number of species in either family and there is much disagreement on how Orchidaceae should be divided into genera. For definitions of genera, most people follow the series entitled The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Their treatment of Asteraceae appears in volume 8. They have not yet published a treatment of Orchidaceae and i do not know who is working on it. Peter F. Stevens maintains the Angiosperm Phylogeny database for the Missouri Botanical Garden. Unlike the Tree of Life (www.tolweb.org), this website is frequently updated. Stevens gives lists of genera as well as the most recent estimates of numbers of genera and species. This can be found at www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Research/APweb/welcome.html . There is a group of botanists that is compiling a list of all species of Embryophytes (land plants). An update of their efforts was published in 2008 in a journal called Taxon. They claim that they will finish this list by 2010, but i don't believe it. Robert Scotland has written on this subject. Also Raphael Govaerts maintains the World Checklist for Selected Plant Families. Allen C. Lane 22 Jun 2008

Answer 2

I am very surprised to find that no one has tried to answer this question. Perhaps i do not understand this website well enough to find where others have posted their answers. Since i do not have time to research a detailed answer right now, i will limit myself to naming what i think are the authoritative sources of information on this subject. I should perhaps mention that families are divided into groups called genera and that the genera are divided into species. I prefer to think of family size as the number of genera in the family, but i suppose that others would like to think of family size as the number of species. The largest plant family is clearly either Asteraceae or Orchidaceae. Asteraceae has by far the largest number of genera, about 1500. Orchidaceae, however, might have a larger number of species. There is not an accurate estimate on the number of species in either family and there is much disagreement on how Orchidaceae should be divided into genera. For definitions of genera, most people follow the series entitled The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Their treatment of Asteraceae appears in volume 8. They have not yet published a treatment of Orchidaceae and i do not know who is working on it. Peter F. Stevens maintains the Angiosperm Phylogeny database for the Missouri Botanical Garden. Unlike the Tree of Life (www.tolweb.org), this website is frequently updated. Stevens gives lists of genera as well as the most recent estimates of numbers of genera and species. This can be found at www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Research/APweb/welcome.html . There is a group of botanists that is compiling a list of all species of Embryophytes (land plants). An update of their efforts was published in 2008 in a journal called Taxon. They claim that they will finish this list by 2010, but i don't believe it. Robert Scotland has written on this subject. Also Raphael Govaerts maintains the World Checklist for Selected Plant Families. Allen C. Lane 22 Jun 2008