Nyssaceae is a family of

flowering A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants (plants of the division Angiospermae). The biological function of a flower is to facilitate reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism ...

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 sometimes included in the

dogwood ''Cornus'' is a genus of about 30–60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods, which can generally be distinguished by their blossoms, berries, and distinctive bark. Most are deciduous trees or shrub ...

family (

Cornaceae The Cornaceae are a cosmopolitan family of flowering plants in the order Cornales. The family contains approximately 85 species in two genera, ''Alangium'' and ''Cornus''. They are mostly trees and shrubs, which may be deciduous or evergreen, alt ...

). Nyssaceae is composed of 37 known species in the following five genera:Averyanov, L. V. & Hiep, N. T. (2002). ''Diplopanax vietnamensis'', a New Species of Nyssaceae from Vietnam – One More Living Representative of the Tertiary Flora of Eurasia. ''Novon'' 12: 433–436. Availabl
online (pdf)
/ref> *''

Camptotheca ''Camptotheca'' (happy tree, cancer tree, or tree of life) is a genus of medium-sized deciduous trees growing to tall, native to southern China and Tibet. The genus is usually included in the tupelo family Nyssaceae, but sometimes included (with ...

'', the happy trees: two species in

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

*'' Davidia'', the dove tree, handkerchief tree, or ghost tree: one species in central China *''

Diplopanax ''Diplopanax'' is a genus of flowering trees placed in the family Cornaceae or Nyssaceae. Its two known extant species inhabit the wet tropical mountains of Vietnam and southern China. They are broad-leaved evergreen trees with woody fruits and ...

'': two species in southern China and

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

*''

Mastixia ''Mastixia'' is a genus of about 19 species of resinous evergreen trees, usually placed in the family Cornaceae. Its range extends from India through Southeast Asia and New Guinea to the Solomon Islands. ''Mastixia'' species have alternate or opp ...

'': about nineteen species in Southeast Asia *'' Nyssa'', the tupelos: about 7–10 species in eastern

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

and

East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia, also spelled South East Asia and South-East Asia, and also known as Southeastern Asia, South-eastern Asia or SEA, is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, south-eastern region of Asia, consistin ...

Among the extinct genera of the family are '' Mastixicarpum'', very similar to ''Diplopanax'', and '' Tsukada'', an extinct relative of ''Davidia''. In some treatments, ''Davidia'' is split off into its own family, the Davidiaceae. ''Diplopanax'' and ''Mastixia'' are also sometimes separated into the family Mastixiaceae.Fan, C. Z., and Xiang, Q. Y. (2003). Phylogenetic analyses of Cornales based on 26S rRNA and combined 26S rDNA-matK-rbcL sequence data. ''American Journal of Botany'' 90, 1357–1372. The

Angiosperm Phylogeny Group The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) is an informal international group of systematic botanists who collaborate to establish a consensus on the taxonomy of flowering plants (angiosperms) that reflects new knowledge about plant relationships disco ...

APG III system The APG III system of flowering plant classification is the third version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy being developed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG). Published in 2009, it was superseded in 2016 by a fur ...

included the genera of Nyssaceae within Cornaceae. 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 publishe ...

recognizes Nyssaceae as a distinct family

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q204564 Asterid families