Asterids – Part 1“Basal” Asterids, Lamiids

Spring 2013

Fig. 8.1

Asterid characters

• Molecular data• Sympetalous corollas• Epipetalous stamens• Number of stamens = number of

petals• Ovules with a single integument and a thin

nucellus (reduction from two integuments and a thick nucellus)

• Iridoid compounds

Asterid characters

Sympetaly and epipetalous stamens

# stamens = # petals

Unitegmic,tenuinucellateovules

Fig. 8.83

Asterid taxa“Basal” Asterids

Order Cornales – dogwoods Order Ericales – azaleas, blueberries, cranberries

LamiidsOrder Solanales – potatoes, tomatoes, peppersOrder Gentianales – gentians, milkweeds, coffeeOrder Lamiales – mints, olives, snapdragons

CampanulidsOrder Apiales – ginseng, carrots, dill, parsleyOrder Dipsacales – honeysuckle, elderberryOrder Asterales – bluebells, sunflowers

Core Asterids

Asterid taxa – Part 1“Basal” Asterids

Order EricalesEricaceae – blueberries, heaths

LamiidsOrder Gentianales

*Apocynaceae – dogbanes, milkweedsRubiaceae – coffee, quinine

Order Solanales*Solanaceae – potatoes, tomatoes, pepper

Order Lamiales*Lamiaceae – mints

Campanulids (Part 2)

*family required for recognition

“Basal” Asterids:

Ericales: Ericaceae(The Heath or Blueberry Family)

• Cosmopolitan; most diverse in montane habitats in E. Asia, E North America, S Africa, Australia. Favor acid soils; sunny or part-shaded habitats

• Trees, shrubs, lianas, occasionally mycoparasitic herbs lacking chlorophyll; leaves usually alternate and spiral

• Diversity: 4,100 species in 124 genera• Flowers: Often showy. Sepals 4-5; petals 4-5, connate forming a

cylindrical to urn-shaped corolla; stamens (3) 8-10; anthers inverted, often with appendages, and poricidal dehiscence, pollen grains often in tetrads; carpels 2-10, connate, superior to inferior ovary; fruit a septic. or loculic. capsule, berry, drupe

• Significant features: anthers often with poricidal dehiscence & sometimes with appendages; leaves often coriaceous

• Special uses: blueberries & cranberries (Vaccinium), Rhododendron and allies (Rhododendron, Erica, Kalmia, Pieris) are showy ornamentals

• Family not required

Ericaceae anthers (Fig. 8.89)

Ericaceae: Rhododendron

-ecologically important in forests in the Eastern U.S. and Eastern Asia-the deciduous taxa are known as azaleas

Sarraceniaceae—another origin of carnivory by pitchers

Asterid taxa – Part 1“Basal” Asterids

Order EricalesEricaceae – blueberries, heaths

LamiidsOrder Gentianales

*Apocynaceae – dogbanes, milkweedsRubiaceae – coffee, quinine

Order Solanales*Solanaceae – potatoes, tomatoes, pepper

Order Lamiales*Lamiaceae – mints

Campanulids (Part 2)

*family required for recognition

Asterids -- Lamiids:

Gentianales: Apocynaceae(The Milkweed Family; incl. Asclepiadaceae)

• Widespread in tropical and subtropical regions; some in temperate regions

• Trees, shrubs, herbs, lianas, vines with laticifers and usually milky sap

• Diversity: ca. 4,600 species in ca. 400 genera• Flowers: Sepals usu. 5; petals usu. 5, connate forming bell- funnel- or

tubular-shaped corolla; stamens usually 5, filaments always adnate to the corolla, anthers distinct or connate and forming a ring to fused to the stylar head; staminal outgrowths (corona) often present and petal-like; carpels usually 2, connate by styles/stigmas only & ovaries distinct to fully connate, superior ovary; apex of style expanded and highly modified, forming a 5-sided stylar head, secreting viscin; fruits often paired, each ovary developing into a dry follicle, drupe or berry

• Significant features: Usually opposite leaves; pollen in sticky masses (w/ viscin) or in pollinia; seeds flattened, often with a tuft of hairs

• Special uses: Some chemical uses (e.g., Catharanthus, “Madagascar periwinkle”) and ornamentals (Asclepias, Vinca, Plumeria, Nerium)

• Family required

anther views

pairedfruits

separateovaries G: stylar head

Apocynaceae – Groups without pollinia

Plumeria

Nerium oleander

Vinca

Apocynum

Catharanthus

Thevetia

corona

pair of pollinia

Apocynaceae with pollinia (Asclepiadoideae)

Asclepias

Stapelia

Ceropegia

Hoya

Calotropus

Apocynaceae: Asclepias-plants herbaceous, stems erect to leaning-leaves usually opposite, sometimes alternate or whorled-inflorescence an umbel-corona of 5 hooded fleshy bodies, each usually with an incurved horn but lacking a crest-pollen in pollinia, the pollinia suspended-fruit a dry, ovoid or lanceolate follicle, one of the pair often aborting

Asterids -- Lamiids:

Gentianales: Rubiaceae(The Coffee or Madder Family)

• Cosmopolitan, most diverse in the tropics and subtropical regions• Trees, shrubs lianas or herbs, vines, shrubs; leaves opposite or

whorled • Diversity: Ca. 12,000 species in ca. 600 genera• Flowers: usually bisexual and radial; sepals 4-5, connate; petals 4-5,

connate, forming a funnel shaped corolla; stamens usually 4 or 5, adnate to corolla; carpels usually 2 (-5), connate, inferior ovary; fruit a loculicidal or septicidal capsule, berry, drupe, or schizocarp

• Significant features: interpetiolar stipules (connate stipules)• Special uses: Major commodity is coffee (Coffea); anti-malarial drug

obtained from the bark of Cinchona (quinine); ipecac (make-U-vomit) comes from Psychotria; gardenias (Gardenia), Pentas, and Ixora provide ornamentals

• Family not required

Rubiaceae

interpetiolar stipules

Rubiaceae

Coffea arabica

Pentas

Asterids -- Lamiids:

Solanales: Solanaceae(The Potato or Nightshade Family)

• Widespread but most diverse in the neotropics• Herbs, shrubs, trees, vines; leaves alternate; often with a

‘solanaceous smell’• Diversity: 2,450 species in 91-102 genera• Flowers: Sepals 5, connate; petals 5, connate, forming variously

tubular corolla, plicate (folded) ; stamens 5, filaments adnate to corolla, sometimes anthers connivant; carpels usually 2 (-5), connate, oriented obliquely to the median plane of the flower; superior ovary; fruit usually a berry (occ. a capsule, schizocarp or nutlet)

• Significant features: Complex chemistry with solanacous tropane alkaloids (belladonna/atropine, nicotine, capsaicin, etc.); stems with internal phloem

• Special uses: Many fruits and vegetables (potatoes & tomatoes - Solanum, peppers - Capsicum), tobacco (Nicotiana), some ornamentals (Petunia)

• Family required; required genus: Solanum

Solanaceae diversity

Solanaceae: Solanum

-herbs or shrubs-corolla regular, rotate, 5-merous, deeply lobed-anthers forming a tube around the style (connivent), with terminal openings; filaments short-fruit a berry, usually 2-locular-ca. 1,400 species, mostly tropical

SolanaceaeEconomic plants and products:

• Edibles:• Cayenne pepper (Capsicum)• Eggplant (Solanum)• Green pepper (Capsicum)• Red pepper (Capsicum)• Potato (Solanum)• Tomato (Solanum)

Solanaceae

Economic plants and products:

• Medicinal/toxic plants ~ Alkaloids!

• Belladona (Atropa)• Henbane (Hyoscyamus)• Jimson-weed (Datura)• Nightshade (Solanum)• Mandrake (Mandragora)• Tobacco (Nicotiana)

Fig. 8.83

Lamiales

-gland-headed hairs-diacytic stomates-oligosaccharides (instead of starch)-anther anatomy-protein inclusions in the nuclei of mesophyll cells-endosperm with a micropylar haustorium-molecular data-ca. 22 families and 20,000 species

Major Families of Lamiales

• *Lamiaceae – mints • Oleaceae – olives, ashes, lilacs• Orobanchaceae – louseworts, beechdrops, Indian

paintbrushes• Plantaginaceae – snapdragons, vervains,

penstemons• Scrophulariaceae – mulleins, figworts

*family required for recognition

Asterids -- Lamiids:

Lamiales: Lamiaceae(The Mint Family; Labiatae)

• Cosmopolitan• Herbs, shrubs, trees; stems square in herbaceous taxa• Diversity: Ca. 6,800 species in 236-238 genera• Flowers: Sepals 5, connate, calyx radial or bilateral; petals 5, connate,

bilabiate; stamens 4, didynamous to more or less equal; carpels 2, 2 ovules per carpel, connate, styles terminal to an often gynobasic, superior, often deeply 4-lobed ovary; fruit a drupe w/ 1-4 pits, an indehiscent 4-seeded pod, or a schizocarp splitting into 4 nutlets or drupelets

• Significant features: Opposite leaves (usually); aromatic volatile compounds - mint oils; inflorescences with main axis indeterminate and determinate (cymose) lateral axes, these often congested into pseudowhorls (verticillasters)

• Special uses: Many herbs: oregano (Origanum), basil (Basilicum), peppermint/spearmint (Mentha), sage (Salvia), thyme (Thymus); teak wood (Tectona); ornamentals (e.g., Salvia, Callicarpa)

• Family required

Lamiaceae

Stachys floridana

• Ovary: • 2-carpellate• deeply 4-lobed• 4 locules

• Gynobasic style• Schizocarp (4

nutlets)

• Corolla: • zygomorphic• sympetalous• bilabiate

• Stamens: • 4, didynamous• epipetalous

• Square stems (herbaceous taxa)• Opposite leaves• Inflorescence: false whorls

(verticils or verticillasters)

FromZomlefer

LamiaceaeNepeta

OcimumPhytostegia

Clinopodium

Note verticillate whorls of flowers at each node

RosmarinusMonarda

Lamiaceae

Economic plants and products:

Condiments & perfumes:• Basil (Ocimum)• Lavender (Lavandula)• Oregano (Origanum)• Peppermint (Mentha)• Rosemary (Rosmarinus)• Sage (Salvia)• Spearmint (Mentha)• Thyme (Thymus)

Mentha

LamiaceaeEconomic plants and products:

Ornamental plants:• Beautyberry (Callicarpa)• Coleus (Coleus)• Salvia (Salvia)

Other interesting Lamiales

Oleaceae(olive family)

Orobanchaceae(hemi- and holoparasitic plants)

Conopholis (parasiticon oaks)

Pedicularis (often parasitizes the heath family)

Castilleja (often parasitizes grasses and various forbs

lilac

ash

olives

Other cool Lamiales

Lentibulariaceae –more carnivorous plants

Bignoniaceae

Gesneriaceae