Asterids – Part 1
“Basal” Asterids, Lamiids
Spring 2014
Fig. 8.1
Asterid characters
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Molecular data
Sympetalous corollas
Epipetalous stamens
Number of stamens = number of
petals
• Ovules with a single integument and a thin
nucellus (reduction from two integuments and a
thick nucellus)
• Iridoid compounds
• Ca. 82,000 species or about 25% of angiosperm
diversity
Asterid characters
# stamens = # petals
Unitegmic,
tenuinucellate
ovules
Sympetaly and epipetalous stamens
Fig. 8.83
Asterid taxa
“Basal” Asterids
Order Cornales – dogwoods
Order Ericales – azaleas, blueberries, cranberries
Lamiids
Order Solanales – potatoes, tomatoes, peppers
Order Gentianales – gentians, milkweeds, coffee
Order Lamiales – mints, olives, snapdragons
Campanulids
Order Apiales – ginseng, carrots, dill, parsley
Order Dipsacales – honeysuckle, elderberry
Order Asterales – bluebells, sunflowers
Core Asterids
Asterid taxa – Part 1
“Basal” Asterids
Order Ericales
*Ericaceae – blueberries, heaths
Lamiids
Order Gentianales
*Apocynaceae – dogbanes, milkweeds
Rubiaceae – coffee, quinine
Order Solanales
*Solanaceae – potatoes, tomatoes, pepper
Order Lamiales
*Lamiaceae – mints
Campanulids (Part 2)
*family required for recognition
“Basal” Asterids:
Ericales: Ericaceae
(The Heath or Blueberry Family)
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Cosmopolitan; most diverse in montane habitats in E. Asia, E North
America, S Africa, Australia. Favor acid soils; sunny or part-shaded
habitats
Trees, shrubs, lianas, occasionally mycoparasitic herbs lacking
chlorophyll; leaves usually alternate and spiral
Diversity: 4,100 species in 124 genera
Flowers: Often showy. Sepals 4-5; petals 4-5, connate forming a
cylindrical to urn-shaped corolla; stamens (3) 8-10; anthers inverted,
often with appendages, and poricidal dehiscence, pollen grains often
in tetrads; carpels 2-10, connate, superior to inferior ovary; fruit a
septic. or loculic. capsule, berry, drupe
Significant features: anthers often with poricidal dehiscence &
sometimes with appendages; leaves often coriaceous
Special uses: blueberries & cranberries (Vaccinium), Rhododendron
and allies (Rhododendron, Erica, Kalmia, Pieris) are showy
ornamentals
Family required
Ericaceae anthers (Fig. 8.89)
Ericaceae: Rhododendron
-ecologically important in forests in
the Eastern U.S. and Eastern Asia
-the deciduous taxa are known as
azaleas
Sarraceniaceae—another origin of carnivory by pitchers
Asterid taxa – Part 1
“Basal” Asterids
Order Ericales
Ericaceae – blueberries, heaths
Lamiids
Order Gentianales
*Apocynaceae – dogbanes, milkweeds
Rubiaceae – coffee, quinine
Order Solanales
*Solanaceae – potatoes, tomatoes, pepper
Order Lamiales
*Lamiaceae – mints
Campanulids (Part 2)
*family required for recognition
Asterids -- Lamiids:
Gentianales: Apocynaceae
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(The Milkweed Family; incl. Asclepiadaceae)
Widespread in tropical and subtropical regions; some in temperate
regions
Trees, shrubs, herbs, lianas, vines with laticifers and usually milky
sap
Diversity: ca. 4,600 species in ca. 400 genera
Flowers: Sepals usu. 5; petals usu. 5, connate forming bell- funnel- or
tubular-shaped corolla; stamens usually 5, filaments always adnate to
the corolla, anthers distinct or connate and forming a ring to fused to
the stylar head; staminal outgrowths (corona) often present and petallike; carpels usually 2, connate by styles/stigmas only & ovaries
distinct to fully connate, superior ovary; apex of style expanded and
highly modified, forming a 5-sided stylar head, secreting viscin; fruits
often paired, each ovary developing into a dry follicle, drupe or berry
Significant features: Usually opposite leaves; pollen in sticky masses
(w/ viscin) or in pollinia; seeds flattened, often with a tuft of hairs
Special uses: Some chemical uses (e.g., Catharanthus, “Madagascar
periwinkle”) and ornamentals (Asclepias, Vinca, Plumeria, Nerium)
Family required
paired
fruits
anther views
separate
ovaries
G: stylar head
Apocynaceae – Groups without pollinia
Vinca
Plumeria
Catharanthus
Apocynum
Thevetia
Nerium
oleander
corona
pair of pollinia
Apocynaceae with pollinia (Asclepiadoideae)
Ceropegia
Hoya
Calotropus
Asclepias
Stapelia
Apocynaceae: Asclepias
-plants herbaceous, stems erect
to leaning
-leaves usually opposite, sometimes
alternate or whorled
-inflorescence an umbel
-corona of 5 hooded fleshy bodies,
each usually with an incurved horn
but lacking a crest
-pollen in pollinia, the pollinia
suspended
-fruit a dry, ovoid or lanceolate
follicle, one of the pair often aborting
Asterids -- Lamiids:
Gentianales: Rubiaceae
(The Coffee or Madder Family)
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Cosmopolitan, most diverse in the tropics and subtropical regions
Trees, shrubs lianas or herbs, vines, shrubs; leaves opposite or
whorled
Diversity: Ca. 12,000 species in ca. 600 genera
Flowers: usually bisexual and radial; sepals 4-5, connate; petals 4-5,
connate, forming a funnel shaped corolla; stamens usually 4 or 5,
adnate to corolla; carpels usually 2 (-5), connate, inferior ovary; fruit a
loculicidal or septicidal capsule, berry, drupe, or schizocarp
Significant features: interpetiolar stipules (connate stipules)
Special uses: Major commodity is coffee (Coffea); anti-malarial drug
obtained from the bark of Cinchona (quinine); ipecac (make-U-vomit)
comes from Psychotria; gardenias (Gardenia), Pentas, and Ixora
provide ornamentals
Family not required
Rubiaceae
interpetiolar stipules
Rubiaceae
Coffea
arabica
Pentas
Asterids -- Lamiids:
Solanales: Solanaceae
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(The Potato or Nightshade Family)
Widespread but most diverse in the neotropics
Herbs, shrubs, trees, vines; leaves alternate; often with a
‘solanaceous smell’
Diversity: 2,450 species in 91-102 genera
Flowers: Sepals 5, connate; petals 5, connate, forming variously
tubular corolla, plicate (folded) ; stamens 5, filaments adnate to
corolla, sometimes anthers connivant; carpels usually 2 (-5), connate,
oriented obliquely to the median plane of the flower; superior ovary;
fruit usually a berry (occ. a capsule, schizocarp or nutlet)
Significant features: Complex chemistry with solanaceous tropane
alkaloids (belladonna/atropine, nicotine, capsaicin, etc.); stems with
internal phloem
Special uses: Many fruits and vegetables (potatoes & tomatoes Solanum, peppers - Capsicum), tobacco (Nicotiana), some
ornamentals (Petunia)
Family required; required genus: Solanum
Solanaceae
characters
Fig. 8.120
Solanaceae diversity
Solanaceae: Solanum
-herbs or shrubs
-corolla regular, rotate, 5-merous,
deeply lobed
-anthers forming a tube around
the style (connivent), with terminal
openings; filaments short
-fruit a berry, usually 2-locular
-ca. 1,400 species, mostly tropical
Solanaceae
Economic plants and products:
•Edibles:
•Cayenne pepper (Capsicum)
•Eggplant (Solanum)
•Green pepper (Capsicum)
•Red pepper (Capsicum)
•Potato (Solanum)
•Tomato (Solanum)
Solanaceae
Economic plants and products:
•Medicinal/toxic plants
~ Alkaloids!
•Belladona (Atropa)
•Henbane (Hyoscyamus)
•Jimson-weed (Datura)
•Nightshade (Solanum)
•Mandrake (Mandragora)
•Tobacco (Nicotiana)
Fig. 8.83
Lamiales
-gland-headed hairs
-diacytic stomates
-oligosaccharides (instead of starch)
-anther anatomy
-protein inclusions in the nuclei of
mesophyll cells
-endosperm with a micropylar haustorium
-molecular data
-ca. 22 families and 20,000 species
Major Families of Lamiales
• *Lamiaceae – mints
• Oleaceae – olives, ashes, lilacs
• Orobanchaceae – louseworts, beechdrops, Indian
paintbrushes
• Plantaginaceae – snapdragons, vervains,
penstemons
• Scrophulariaceae – mulleins, figworts
*family required for recognition
Asterids -- Lamiids:
Lamiales: Lamiaceae
(The Mint Family; Labiatae)
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Cosmopolitan
Herbs, shrubs, trees; stems square in herbaceous taxa
Diversity: Ca. 6,800 species in 236-238 genera
Flowers: Sepals 5, connate, calyx radial or bilateral; petals 5, connate,
bilabiate; stamens 4, didynamous to more or less equal; carpels 2, 2
ovules per carpel, connate, styles terminal to an often gynobasic,
superior, often deeply 4-lobed ovary; fruit a drupe w/ 1-4 pits, an
indehiscent 4-seeded pod, or a schizocarp splitting into 4 nutlets or
drupelets
Significant features: Opposite leaves (usually); aromatic volatile
compounds - mint oils; inflorescences with main axis indeterminate
and determinate (cymose) lateral axes, these often congested into
pseudowhorls (verticillasters)
Special uses: Many herbs: oregano (Origanum), basil (Basilicum),
peppermint/spearmint (Mentha), sage (Salvia), thyme (Thymus); teak
wood (Tectona); ornamentals (e.g., Salvia, Callicarpa)
Family required
Lamiaceae
From
Zomlefer
•Corolla:
•zygomorphic
•sympetalous
•bilabiate
•Stamens:
•4, didynamous
•Ovary:
•epipetalous
•2-carpellate
•deeply 4-lobed
•4 locules
•Gynobasic style
•Schizocarp (4
nutlets)
Stachys
floridana
•Square stems (herbaceous taxa)
•Opposite leaves
•Inflorescence: false whorls
(verticils or verticillasters)
Lamiaceae
Nepeta
Monarda
Phytostegia
Note verticillate whorls
of flowers at each node
Ocimum
Rosmarinus
Clinopodium
Lamiaceae
Economic plants and products:
Condiments & perfumes:
•Basil (Ocimum)
•Lavender (Lavandula)
•Oregano (Origanum)
•Peppermint (Mentha)
•Rosemary (Rosmarinus)
•Sage (Salvia)
•Spearmint (Mentha)
•Thyme (Thymus)
Mentha
Lamiaceae
Economic plants and products:
Ornamental plants:
•Beautyberry (Callicarpa)
•Coleus (Coleus)
•Salvia (Salvia)
Other interesting Lamiales
Orobanchaceae
(hemi- and holoparasitic
plants)
Conopholis
(parasitic
on oaks)
Oleaceae
(olive family)
lilac
ash
olives
Pedicularis (often
parasitizes the heath family)
Castilleja (often parasitizes
grasses and various forbs)