Vochysiaceae is a plant family belonging to the order Myrtales.
Description
Trees or shrubs with opposite leaves; flowers are
zygomorph 1-(3)-5
merous; ovary inferior or superior; one fertile stamen; fruits samara or capsules.
Biogeography
Seven of the nine genera are native to the
Neotropics. The genera
Erismadelphus and
Korupodendron are native to West and Central Africa.
Evolutionary history
The family likely originated in
South America.
Erismadelphus is thought to have diverged from
Erisma approximately 30 million years ago, and traveled to
Africa as the result of long-distance dispersal.
Systematics
Vochysiaceae are closest to
Myrtaceae.
[Conti, E., A. Litt, P.G. Wilson, S.A Graham, B.G. Briggs, L.A.S. Johnson, K.J. Sytsma. 1997. Interfamiliar relationships in Myrtales: molecular phylogeny and patterns of morphological evolution. Systematic Botany 22: 629-647] Vochysiaceae consist of 9 genera with about 250 species.
[ The family is classified into two tribes:
]
Tribe Erismeae : one inferior ovary and winged fruits
Tribe Vochysieae: three fused superior ovaries and capsule fruits
The genus Euphronia, previously included in Vochysiaceae, is unrelated and now stands alone in the family Euphroniaceae, more closely related to the family Chrysobalanaceae.
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Family of Vochysiaceae link APWebsite. (engl.)
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Amy Litt & Dennis W. Stevenson: Floral development and morphology of Vochysiaceae. I. The structure of the gynoecium in American Journal of Botany, 90, 2003, S. 1533-1547: Online.
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M. L. Kawasaki: Vochysiaceae, S. 480–487 in Klaus Kubitzki: The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants, Volume 9, Flowering Plants - Eudicots, Springer Berlin, Heidelberg, 2007, .
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F. Carnevale Neto et al.: Vochysiaceae: secondary metabolites, ethnopharmacology and pharmacological potential, "Phytochemistry Reviews" (Print), v. 10, p. 413-429, 2011, DOI: 10.1007/s11101-011-9213-5.
