Plantaginaceae, theplantain family orveronica family, is a large, diversefamily of flowering plants in the orderLamiales that includes common flowers such assnapdragon andfoxglove. It is unrelated to thebanana-like fruit also called "plantain". In older classifications, Plantaginaceae was the only family of the orderPlantaginales, but numerous phylogenetic studies, summarized by theAngiosperm Phylogeny Group, have demonstrated that this taxon should be included withinLamiales.
The plantain family as traditionally circumscribed consisted of only three genera:Bougueria,Littorella, andPlantago. However phylogenetic research has indicated that Plantaginaceaesensu stricto (in the strict sense) were nested withinScrophulariaceae (but forming a group that did not include the type genus of that family,Scrophularia). Although Veronicaceae (1782) is the oldest family name for this group, Plantaginaceae (1789) is a conserved name under theInternational Code of Botanical Nomenclature (ICBN) and thus has priority over any earlier family name for a family includingPlantago. Furthermore, the ICBN does not consider family names published before 1789 to be names eligible for conservation, thus ruling out Veronicaceae. The nameAntirrhinaceae has been proposed for conservation over Plantaginaceae. In the meantime, the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group has accepted the name Plantaginaceae. However, Olmstead (2003) chose to use the name Veronicaceae, a later synonym.[3] The Plantaginaceae is additionally called the veronica family in English.[4]
A group of genera includingLindernia has now beensegregated[5][6] as the familyLinderniaceae,[7] which is recognized by Hastonet al. 2007 (also known as LAPG II) as "Post-APG II family."
Plantaginaceaesensu lato (in the broad sense) are a diverse,cosmopolitan family, occurring mostly in temperate zones. The group consists ofherbs,shrubs and also a fewaquatic plants withroots (such as the genusCallitriche). As the family is so diverse, its circumscription is difficult to establish.[5]
Theleaves are spiral to opposite and simple to compound. Unusual in Lamiales is the absence of vertical partitions in the heads of theglandular hairs.
The structure and form of theflowers is variable. Some genera are4-merous (i.e., with 4sepals and 4petals), such asAragoa (but this one has 5 sepals); others are 5- to 8-merous, such asSibthorpia. The flowers of most genera are polysymmetric. Thecorolla is often two-lipped. In some taxa, theandroecium is formed before the corolla.
The enlarged Plantaginaceae consists of 107 genera[9] and about 1,900 species.[10] The largest genus isVeronica, with about 450 species.Veronica also includes the generaHebe,Parahebe andSynthyris, formerly often treated as distinct. All genera of Plantaginaceae were formerly included inScrophulariaceae except where otherwise stated.
AlthoughGRIN includesLafuenteaLag. in the tribe Antirrhineae,[12] in the phylogenetic analysis of Fernández-Mazuecoset al. (2013)[24] it was a sister to the Antirrhineae, as also noted by Albach (2005).[5] For the time being it should be considered anoutgroup.
^Fernández-Mazuecos, Mario; Blanco-Pastor, José Luis; Vargas, Pablo (February 2013). "A Phylogeny of Toadflaxes (Linaria Mill.) Based on Nuclear Internal Transcribed Spacer Sequences: Systematic and Evolutionary Consequences".International Journal of Plant Sciences.174 (2):234–249.Bibcode:2013IJPlS.174..234F.doi:10.1086/668790.JSTOR10.1086/668790.S2CID85302392.
