| Anisophylleaceae | |
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Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Rosids |
| Order: | Cucurbitales |
| Family: | Anisophylleaceae Ridl. 1922 |
| Type genus | |
| Anisophyllea R.Br. ex Sabine. 1824 | |
| Genera | |
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TheAnisophylleaceae are a small family with four genera and about 70 species,[1] in the orderCucurbitales, according to theAPG II. However, it is more isolated from the other suprafamilialclades in this order, while it shows some similarities in flower morphology with the genusCeratopetalum (familyCunoniaceae, orderOxalidales). Several wood features of this family are more primitive than those of the other families in the order Cucurbitales.
Previously, this family was categorized under its own order, Anisophylleales, byTakhtajan in 1997.
It is a pantropical family of shrubs and medium-sized to fairly large trees, occurring in wet, tropical forests and swamps of America, Africa and Asia.
The palmately veinedleaves have a rather leathery texture, entire margins, and are often asymmetrical at the base. They have minute stipules or simply lack them. They are alternate; spiral, or distichous, or four-ranked (such as inAnisophyllea). The paired leaves may be different in size or shape.
The smallflowers are regular and trimerous to pentamerous. They are usually aggregated in axillaryracemes orpanicles. The flower type varies considerably, most are monoecious, exceptCombretocarpus; which is hermaphrodite, having perfect flowers.
The inferior, tri- or quadrilocularovary develops into adrupe or asamara (as inCombretocarpus) with usually one seed, but with three or four seeds inPoga.
Modernmolecular phylogenetics suggest the following relationships:[2][3]
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