The Crypteroniaceae 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 ...

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 and

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from tree ...

s. The family includes 13 species in three

genera Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomenclat ...

, native to

Indomalaya The Indomalayan realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms. It extends across most of South and Southeast Asia and into the southern parts of East Asia. Also called the Oriental realm by biogeographers, Indomalaya spreads all over the Indi ...

Genera

There are three genera of Crypteroniaceae, all native to Asian

tropical forests Tropical forests (a.k.a. jungle) are forested landscapes in tropical regions: ''i.e.'' land areas approximately bounded by the tropic of Cancer and Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing winds. Some tropical for ...

: * ''

Axinandra ''Axinandra'' is a genus of plant in family Crypteroniaceae The Crypteroniaceae are a family of flowering trees and shrubs. The family includes 13 species in three genera, native to Indomalaya. Genera There are three genera of Crypteroniac ...

'' Thwaites * ''

Crypteronia ''Crypteronia'' is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the family Crypteroniaceae. The genus includes seven species, ranging from eastern India through Southeast Asia and southern China to the Malay Peninsula, Indonesia and New Guinea. Sp ...

'' Blume * ''

Dactylocladus ''Dactylocladus'' is a monotypic genus of trees in the family Crypteroniaceae. It contains the single species ''Dactylocladus stenostachys''. The generic name means "finger twigs", referring to the branching of the twigs. The specific epithet '' ...

'' Oliv. The genus ''

'' includes four species, one in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

(''A. zeylanica'') and the others in

Borneo Borneo (; id, Kalimantan) is the third-largest island in the world and the largest in Asia. At the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia, in relation to major Indonesian islands, it is located north of Java, west of Sulawesi, and e ...

and the

Malay Peninsula The Malay Peninsula ( Malay: ''Semenanjung Tanah Melayu'') is a peninsula in Mainland Southeast Asia. The landmass runs approximately north–south, and at its terminus, it is the southernmost point of the Asian continental mainland. The ar ...

. ''

'' includes seven species, ranging from eastern

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area, the List of countries and dependencies by population, second-most populous ...

through

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 south-eastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of mainland ...

and southern

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

to the

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Gui ...

, and

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu: ''Niu Gini''; id, Papua, or , historically ) is the world's second-largest island with an area of . Located in Oceania in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, the island is separated from Australia by the wide Torres ...

. ''

'' consists of a single species, native to the lowland peat swamp forests of Borneo.

Phylogeny

Morphological analyses, supported by recent chloroplast DNA analysis, indicates that Crypteroniaceae are most closely related to four small myrtalean families,

Penaeaceae The Penaeaceae are a family of evergreen, leathery-leaved shrubs and small trees, native to South Africa. The family has 29 species in 9 genera.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards)Penaeaceae.

, Oliniaceae, and Rhynchocalycaceae of southern

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

, and

Alzateaceae ''Alzatea verticillata'' is a small flowering tree, native to the Neotropics. It inhabits moist submontane forests from Costa Rica and Panama in Central America south to Peru and Bolivia in tropical South America. It is the sole species of gen ...

Central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known a ...

and

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the sou ...

. The common ancestor of these five families is thought to have originated in western

Gondwana Gondwana () was a large landmass, often referred to as a supercontinent, that formed during the late Neoproterozoic (about 550 million years ago) and began to break up during the Jurassic period (about 180 million years ago). The final sta ...

during the

Cretaceous The Cretaceous ( ) is a geological period that lasted from about 145 to 66 million years ago (Mya). It is the third and final period of the Mesozoic Era, as well as the longest. At around 79 million years, it is the longest geological period of ...

epoch, and the Crypteroniaceae were carried northward with India after the breakup of the southern supercontinent, differentiating into the three genera before India's collision with

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

. The genera subsequently spread from India to the moist tropical forests of Southeast Asia.

References

* Conti, E., Erikkson, T., Schonenberger, J., Sytsma, K. J., & Baum, D. A. (2002). Early Tertiary Out-of-India Dispersal of Crypteroniaceae: Evidence from Phylogeny and Molecular Dating. ''Evolution'' 56 (10): 1931–1942.

External links

* {{Taxonbar, from=Q131822 Myrtales families