The Scrophulariaceae are 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, commonly known as the figwort family. The plants are annual and perennial herbs, as well as shrubs. Flowers have bilateral (

zygomorphic Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts. Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spirall ...

) or rarely radial (

actinomorphic Floral symmetry describes whether, and how, a flower, in particular its perianth, can be divided into two or more identical or mirror-image parts. Uncommonly, flowers may have no axis of symmetry at all, typically because their parts are spirall ...

) symmetry. The Scrophulariaceae have a

cosmopolitan distribution In biogeography, cosmopolitan distribution is the term for the range of a taxon that extends across all or most of the world in appropriate habitats. Such a taxon, usually a species, is said to exhibit cosmopolitanism or cosmopolitism. The ext ...

, with the majority found in temperate areas, including tropical mountains. The family name is based on the name of the included genus ''

Scrophularia The genus ''Scrophularia'' of the family Scrophulariaceae comprises about 200 species of herbaceous flowering plants commonly known as figworts. Species of ''Scrophularia'' all share square stems, opposite leaves and open two-lipped flowers for ...

'' L.

Taxonomy

In the past, it was treated as including about 275 genera and over 5,000 species, but its circumscription has been radically altered since numerous molecular

phylogenies A phylogenetic tree (also phylogeny or evolutionary tree Felsenstein J. (2004). ''Inferring Phylogenies'' Sinauer Associates: Sunderland, MA.) is a branching diagram or a tree showing the evolutionary relationships among various biological spec ...

have shown the traditional broad circumscription to be grossly

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...

. Many genera have recently been transferred to other families within the

Lamiales The order Lamiales (also known as the mint order) are an order in the asterid group of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It includes about 23,810 species, 1,059 genera, and is divided into about 25 families. These families include Acanthaceae, Big ...

, notably

Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae, the plantain family, is a large, diverse family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as snapdragon and foxglove. It is unrelated to the banana-like fruit also called "plantain." In older cl ...

and

Orobanchaceae Orobanchaceae, the broomrapes, is a family of mostly parasitic plants of the order Lamiales, with about 90 genera and more than 2000 species. Many of these genera (e.g., ''Pedicularis'', ''Rhinanthus'', ''Striga'') were formerly included in the ...

, but also several new families. - on lin
here
/ref> Several families of the Lamiales have had their circumscriptions enlarged to accommodate genera transferred from the Scrophulariacae ''

sensu lato ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular c ...

''. Fischer (2004) considered the family to consist of three subfamilies – Antirrhinoideae, Gratioloideae, and Digitalidoideae. He further divided the Gratioloideae into five tribes – Gratioleae, Angeloniaeae, Stemodieae, Limoselleae, and Lindernieae. He then divided the Gratioleae, with its 16 genera (and about 182 species) into three subtribes – Caprarinae, Dopatrinae, and Gratiolinae. The Gratiolinae had 10 genera (about 121 species) distributed through temperate and tropical America – ''

Bacopa ''Bacopa'' is a genus of 70–100 aquatic plants belonging to the family Plantaginaceae. It is commonly known as waterhyssop (or water hyssop, though this is more misleading as ''Bacopa'' is not very closely related to hyssop but simply has a ...

'' and ''

Mecardonia ''Mecardonia'' (axilflower) is a genus of herbaceous plants in the family Plantaginaceae. 31 species have been described, of which 12 are accepted. Its distribution is predominantly in South America, and South East United States, including Flor ...

'' (formerly '' Herpestis''), '' Amphianthus'', ''

Gratiola ''Gratiola'' is a genus of plants in the family Plantaginaceae. Most species are known generally as hedgehyssops. The genus was previously included in the family Scrophulariaceae. Species include: *'' Gratiola amphiantha'' - pool sprite, snorkel ...

'', '' Sophronanthe'', '' Benjaminia'', '' Scoparia'', '' Boelkea'', '' Maeviella'', and '' Braunblequetia''. Many of these were transferred to the family Plantaginaceae, in the tribe Gratioleae.

Uses

The family includes some medicinal plants, among them: * ''

'', figworts * ''

Verbascum ''Verbascum'' is a genus of over 450 species of flowering plants, common name mullein (), in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae. They are native to Europe and Asia, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean. Mullein or "mullein le ...

'', mulleins

Genera

The family Scrophulariaceae in its APG IV (2016) circumscription includes 62 genera and about 1830 known species. Texas Sage -- Leucophyllum frutescens

Leucophyllum frutescens (Purple Sage) W2 IMG 1125

Excluded genera

The following genera, traditionally included in the Scrophulariaceae, have been transferred to other families as indicated:

References

External links

Kew list of Scrophulariaceae

Flowers in Israel
verbascum.org
{{Authority control Lamiales families