| Dilleniaceae | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Hibbertia stellaris | |
Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Order: | Dilleniales |
| Family: | Dilleniaceae Salisb.[1] |
| Genera | |
APG II system recognizes the following genera: | |
Dilleniaceae is afamily offlowering plants with 11 genera and about 430 known species.[2] It is known to gardeners for the genusHibbertia, which contains many commercially valuable garden species.
The family is found in the tropics and subtropics plus all ofAustralia.[3][4] Most of the members in it are woody plants - lianas or trees such asDillenia - but herbaceous species such asHibbertia are also present in Dilleniaceae. The leaves of the plants in the family are wide and well-developed,[definition needed] but in certain species ofHibbertia they are strongly modified. The flowers are mainly showy and colorful with visible reproductive components.Buzz pollination is common in the group.[5] Fruits of some species, such asDillenia indica (elephant apple), are edible.[citation needed]
The position of the family in the phylogenetic tree and its classification among the othereudicots is uncertain.[6] Some studies suggested that Dilleniaceae may be sister toRhabdodendraceae aclade that was thought to be sister to all the restCaryophyllales. The caryophyllidRhabdodendron and the members in the family with the questionable placement in fact share some morphological characteristics, but it has been found thatRhabdodendraceae is actually sister only to the core members of its order.
Another possible situation places Dilleniaceae as an ancient group, sister to the superrosidae clade (the family shares some common morphology withVitales) but this is not absolutely proven.
TheAPG II system, of 2003 (unchanged from theAPG system of 1998), also recognizes this family, unplaced as to order, assigned to the cladecore eudicots.
APG II debates either including it in orderCaryophyllales or reinstating the orderDilleniales for just this one family, but decides to leave it unplaced.
The family is remarkable because of its variability of morphological characteristics that now are much steadier in other Angiosperm groups.[citation needed] Thus, Dilleniaceae may be an ancient clade that expresses some phylogenetic relation between the higherEudicots and the rather more primitive groups.[7]
It is estimated that the clade diverged around 115 million years ago in the MidCretaceous, but thecrown group was formed much later - only 52 million years before the present.[8]
Media related toDilleniaceae at Wikimedia Commons| National | |
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| Other | |
