Celastrales
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What is the plant order Celastrales?
The Celastrales are a small order of flowering plants that contains around 100 genera and 1,350 species divided into 3 families. Celastrales is within the Rosid I clade in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II (APG II) botanical classification system.
One of the families in Celastrales is Celastraceae, also known as the bittersweet family. Celastraceae includes approximately 90 genera and 1,300 species of trees, lianas, and herbs that are found in temperate and tropical regions. Catha edulis (khat) has stimulant properties when its fresh leaves are chewed. Species of Celastrus and Euonymus are also commonly grown as ornamental shrubs.
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Which types of plants belong to the Celastrales order?
The Celastrales order is a small order of flowering plants that contains 3 families, around 100 genera, and approximately 1,350 species.
One of the families in Celastrales is Celastraceae, also known as the bittersweet family. Celastraceae includes about 90 genera with some 1,300 species of trees, lianas, and herbs, found mainly in temperate and tropical regions. Examples of genera within Celastraceae are Maytenus, Salacia, Hippocratea, Euonymus, and Celastrus. Species of Celastrus and Euonymus, in particular, are commonly grown as ornamental shrubs.
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Where are Celastrales plants commonly found?
Plants in the order Celastrales are commonly found throughout temperate and especially tropical regions. The Celastraceae family, also known as the bittersweet family, includes trees, lianas, and herbs. Maytenus (including Gymnosporia) contains about 200 species, Salacia about 150 species, and Hippocratea (including Loesneriella) about 120 species; all are pantropical. Euonymus (130 species) is more temperate, while Celastrus (32 species) is intermediate in its preferences. Species of Celastrus are native chiefly to Asia and Australia.
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What are some common features of Celastrales plants?
The Celastrales order is a group of flowering plants with 3 families, about 100 genera, and 1,350 species. Celastrales includes the family Celastraceae, also known as the bittersweet or staff-tree family, which comprises around 55 genera of woody vines, shrubs, and trees.
Common features of Celastrales plants include:
* Leaves that are frequently leathery
* Small flowers, typically with four to five sepals and petals
* Stamens that rise from a conspicuous nectar disk
* Often colorful fruit
* Leaves that can be spiral or opposite on a single plant
* Leaf margins that often have teeth
* The secretion of gutta, or latex3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
What are some well-known examples of Celastrales species?
Celastrales is a small order of flowering plants with 3 families, about 100 genera, and roughly 1,350 species. The Celastraceae, or bittersweet family, is a family within the Celastrales order that contains about 90 genera with some 1,300 species of trees, lianas, and herbs found throughout temperate and especially tropical regions.
Well-known examples of Celastrales species include:
* Celastrus (bittersweet)
* Euonymus
* Maytenus
* Salacia
* Hippocratea
* Catha edulis (khat), whose leaves are chewed as a stimulant
* Paxistima canbyi, a low, creeping North American shrub3 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles. -
How are Celastrales plants important in ecosystems or to humans?
The Celastrales order, with approximately 1,350 species, holds ecological and economic significance.
The Celastraceae family within this order includes plants like Catha edulis (khat), whose leaves are chewed as a stimulant in Africa and the Middle East. Species from the Celastrus and Euonymus genera are also cultivated as ornamental shrubs.
Ecologically, many Celastraceae species secrete latex and have variable fruit and seed structures, contributing to plant diversity within their temperate and tropical habitats.
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Celastrales, small order of flowering plants that includes 3 families, some 100 genera, and about 1,350 species. In the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II (APG II) botanical classification system, Celastrales is placed in the Rosid I clade (see angiosperm).
Celastraceae
Celastraceae, or the bittersweet family, contains about 90 genera with some 1,300 species of trees, lianas, and herbs found throughout temperate and especially tropical regions. Maytenus (including Gymnosporia) contains about 200 species, Salacia about 150 species, and Hippocratea (including Loesneriella) about 120 species; all are pantropical. Euonymus (130 species) is more temperate, while Celastrus (32 species) is intermediate in its preferences.
Fresh leaves of Catha edulis (khat), a plant native in Africa and Arabia, yield a stimulant when chewed. It is especially popular in much of the Middle East. Species of Celastrus and Euonymus in particular are commonly cultivated as ornamental shrubs.
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Many species in Celastraceae secrete gutta, or latex, and, if a leaf is pulled apart transversely, the two halves often hold together by thin strands of dried latex. The leaves can be spiral or opposite on a single plant, and in some species they are two-ranked. The leaf margins often have teeth, although these may be minute, and there are stipules that are quite often fringed. The flowers are usually small, with three or five stamens facing inward or outward and borne on the outside or inside of the prominent nectary disc. The ovary often has three compartments. The fruits and seeds are variable; the former may be fleshy or dry, and the latter may be winged, with a fleshy appendage or aril, or simply rounded.
Parnassiaceae
Parnassiaceae, with two genera, includes annual to perennial herbs. Parnassia contains 50 species that grow in the north temperate to Arctic region. Lepuropetalon spathulatum, the only species of its genus, occurs in the southeastern United States and Mexico. The leaves in the family have no stipules, and the flowers are single or obviously cymose. There are five stamens and five staminodes, or nonfunctional stamens. The latter are opposite the corolla, and at least sometimes nectar is secreted at their bases. The ovules are borne on the walls of the ovary, and the fruit is a capsule containing many small seeds. L. spathulatum is one of the smallest flowering plants growing on land. It is often less than 2 cm (1 inch) tall, and its flowers lack petals. The staminodes of Parnassia are branched, each branch ending in a shiny yellow knob; these appear to mimic nectaries.
Lepidobotryaceae
Lepidobotryaceae is a small family of two genera and two or three species of trees, Lepidobotrys staudtii being known from East Africa and Ruptiliocarpon caracolito growing in Central and South America. They have simple two-ranked leaves that are jointed at the base of the blade and have small paired leafy structures, or stipels, as well as ordinary stipules where the leaf joins the stem. The inflorescence seems to arise opposite the leaves. The flowers are small, male and female flowers being borne on different plants. The sepals and petals are free, and the 10 stamens are joined at their bases. The fruit wall has a layer with distinctive radial fibres that separate from a horny inner layer.