Schisandraceae is a

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

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 with 3 known genera and a total of 92 known species. Such a family has been recognized by most taxonomists, at least for the past several decades. Before that, the plants concerned were assigned to family

Magnoliaceae The Magnoliaceae () are a flowering plant family, the magnolia family, in the order Magnoliales. It consists of two genera: ''Magnolia'' and ''Liriodendron'' (tulip trees). Unlike most angiosperms, whose flower parts are in whorls (rings), the ...

and

Illiciaceae Illiciaceae A.C.Sm. was a family of flowering plants recognized in a number of systems of plant taxonomy. The Illiciaceae is not recognized as a distinct family by the APG III system of plant taxonomy, the most well accepted system in use today. ...

. The

APG IV 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 ...

and

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 Published in 2009, it was superseded in 2016 by a fur ...

s of taxonomy recognize this family and place it on the order

Austrobaileyales Austrobaileyales is an order of flowering plants consisting of about 100 species of woody plants growing as trees, shrubs and lianas. The best-known species is ''Illicium verum'', commonly known as star anise. The order belongs to the group of b ...

. The

APG II system The APG II system (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II system) of plant classification is the second, now obsolete, version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy that was published in April 2003 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Gro ...

, of 2003, also recognizes such a family. It places the family in order Austrobaileyales, which in turn is accepted as being among the most basic lineages in the clade

angiosperms 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 ...

. APG II assumes this to be a family of three genera, the Schisandraceae ''sensu lato''. This family consists of woody plants, containing

essential oil An essential oil is a concentrated hydrophobic liquid containing volatile (easily evaporated at normal temperatures) chemical compounds from plants. Essential oils are also known as volatile oils, ethereal oils, aetheroleum, or simply as the o ...

s. However, APG II does allow the option of segregating the genus ''

Illicium ''Illicium'' is a genus of flowering plants treated as part of the family Schisandraceae,

'' as the family Illiciaceae. This leaves only two genera in the family Schisandraceae ''sensu stricto'', consisting of ''

Schisandra ''Schisandra'', the magnolia vines, is a genus of twining shrubs that generally climb on other vegetation. Various authors have included the plants in the Illiciaceae ''Schisandra'' (also spelled ''Schizandra'') is native to Asia and North Amer ...

'' and ''

Kadsura ''Kadsura'' is a genus of woody vines in the Schisandraceae described as a genus in 1810. Distribution ''Kadsura'' is native to eastern, southern, and southeastern Asia from Sri Lanka eastwards to the Philippines, and from southern Korea and Jap ...

'', totalling several dozen species, which are found in tropical to temperate regions of

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 ...

and

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 ...

and

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 ...

. The

APG system The APG system (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system) of plant classification is the first version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy. Published in 1998 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, it was replaced by the improved AP ...

, of 1998, recognized both the families Schisandraceae ''sensu stricto'' and Illiciaceae, unplaced as to order. It regarded both families as being among the most basic lineages in the clade

. The

Cronquist system The Cronquist system is a taxonomic classification system of flowering plants. It was developed by Arthur Cronquist in a series of monographs and texts, including ''The Evolution and Classification of Flowering Plants'' (1968; 2nd edition, 1988) a ...

, of 1981, treated the plants in the family (in its wider sense) as two separate families, which together constituted : the order

Illiciales Illiciales is an order of flowering plants that is not recognized by the current most widely used system of plant classification, the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group's APG III system. The order was comprised differently in various systems of plant ...

, :: in subclass Magnoliidae, ::: in class

Magnoliopsida Magnoliopsida is a valid botanical name for a class of flowering plants. By definition the class will include the family Magnoliaceae, but its circumscription can otherwise vary, being more inclusive or less inclusive depending upon the classific ...

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Genera

Pollination

Schisandaceae are pollinated predominantly by nocturnal Cecidomyiidae, gall midges that lay their eggs in the male and female flowers (in Schisandraceae species with unisexual flowers) or the male-stage and female-stage flowers (in species with bisexual flowers). The larvae of these midges develop in the floral tissue once it has dropped to the ground, feeding on floral exudates (not ovules or pollen).

References

External links

* Schisandraceae ensu strictoin th
''Flora of North America''

NCBI Taxonomy Browser
chisandraceae sensu lato* * Luo, S-X., L-J. Zhang, S. Yuan, Z-H. Ma, D-X. Zhang, and S. S. Renner. 2018. The largest early-diverging angiosperm family is mostly pollinated by ovipositing insects and so are most surviving lineages of early angiosperms. Proc. Roy. Soc. B 285: 20172365; {{Taxonbar, from=Q282324 Angiosperm families