The Berberidaceae are a

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

of 18 genera of

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s commonly called the barberry family. This family is in the order

Ranunculales Ranunculales is an order of flowering plants. Of necessity it contains the family Ranunculaceae, the buttercup family, because the name of the order is based on the name of a genus in that family. Ranunculales belongs to a paraphyletic group kno ...

. The family contains about 700 known species, of which the majority are in ''

Berberis ''Berberis'' (), commonly known as barberry, is a large genus of deciduous and evergreen shrubs from tall, found throughout temperate and subtropical regions of the world (apart from Australia). Species diversity is greatest in South Amer ...

''. The species include

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s, shrubs and

perennial A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wid ...

herbaceous plants.

General

The

APG IV system The APG IV system of flowering plant classification is the fourth version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy for flowering plants (angiosperms) being developed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG). It was published ...

of 2016 recognises the family and places it in the order

in the clade

eudicots The eudicots, Eudicotidae, or eudicotyledons are a clade of flowering plants mainly characterized by having two seed leaves upon germination. The term derives from Dicotyledons. Traditionally they were called tricolpates or non-magnoliid dicots ...

. In some older treatments of the family, Berberidaceae only included four genera (''Berberis, Epimedium, Mahonia, Vancouveria''), with the other genera treated in separate families, Leonticaceae (''Bongardia, Caulophyllum, Gymnospermium, Leontice''), Nandinaceae (''Nandina''), and Podophyllaceae (''Achlys, Diphylleia, Dysosma, Jeffersonia, Podophyllum, Ranzania, Sinopodophyllum''). ''Mahonia'' is very closely related to ''Berberis'', and included in it by many botanists. However, recent DNA-based

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

research has reinstated ''Mahonia'', though with a handful of species transferred into the newly described genera ''Alloberberis'' (formerly ''Mahonia'' section ''Horridae'') and ''Moranothamnus'' (formerly ''Mahonia claireae''). Species of ''Mahonia'' and ''Berberis'' can be hybridised, with the hybrids being classified in the genus ''× Mahoberberis''. ''Diphyllaea'' is closely related to or perhaps embedded within ''Podophyllum.'' Instead of the current trend to subdivide ''Podophyllum'' into three genera (''Podophyllum'', plus ''Dysosma'' and ''Sinopodophyllum''), inclusion of ''Diphyllaea'' in a larger ''Podophyllum'' is equally warranted.

Gallery

Berberidaceae_California_Barberry.jpg, '' Berberis pinnata'' (California barberry) Berberidaceae Mahonia Swaseyi.jpg, '' Berberis swaseyi'' Berberis darwinii from the Berberidaceae (8406231651).jpg, '' Berberis darwinii'' (''calafate'' or ''michay'') Berberis empetrifolia, fruit (8625238212).jpg, '' Berberis empetrifolia'', fruit

References

External links

Berberidaceae
in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards)
''The families of flowering plants.''

Berberidaceae links

Chilean Berberidaceae, by Chileflora
{{Authority control Eudicot families Flora of Nepal