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Rutaceae
The Rutaceae (/ruːˈteɪsiˌaɪ, -siːˌiː/) is a family, commonly known as the rue or citrus family, of flowering plants, usually placed in the order Sapindales.
Species of the family generally have flowers that divide into four or five parts, usually with strong scents. They range in form and size from herbs to shrubs and large trees.
The most economically important genus in the family is Citrus, which includes the orange (C. × sinensis), lemon (C. × limon), grapefruit (C. × paradisi), and lime (various). Boronia is a large Australian genus, some members of which are plants with highly fragrant flowers and are used in commercial oil production. Other large genera include Zanthoxylum, several species of which are cultivated for Sichuan pepper, Melicope, and Agathosma. The family Rutaceae contains about 160 genera.
Most species are trees or shrubs, a few are herbs (the type genus Ruta, Boenninghausenia, and Dictamnus), frequently aromatic with glands on the leaves, sometimes with thorns. The leaves are usually opposed and compound and without stipules. Pellucid glands, a type of oil gland, are found in the leaves responsible for the aromatic smell of the family's members; traditionally they have been the primary synapomorphic characteristic to identify the Rutaceae.[citation needed]
Flowers are bractless, solitary or in cyme, rarely in raceme, and mainly pollinated by insects. They are radially or (rarely) laterally symmetric and generally hermaphroditic. They have four or five—sometimes three—mostly separate petals and sepals and eight to ten stamen (five in Skimmia, many in Citrus), usually separate or in several groups. Usually they have only a single stigma with 2 to 5 united carpels. Their ovaries are sometimes separate, but their styles are combined.[citation needed]
The fruit of the Rutaceae are very variable: berries, drupes, hesperidia, samaras, capsules, and follicles all occur. Seed number also varies widely.[citation needed]
The family is closely related to the Sapindaceae, Simaroubaceae, and Meliaceae, and all are usually placed into the same order, although older systems separate that order into Rutales and Sapindales. The families Flindersiaceae and Ptaeroxylaceae are sometimes kept separate, but nowadays generally are placed in the Rutaceae, as are the former Cneoraceae.[citation needed]
In 1896, Engler published a division of the family Rutaceae into seven subfamilies. One, Rhabdodendroideae, is no longer considered to belong to the Rutaceae, being treated as the segregate family Rhabdodendraceae, containing only the genus Rhabdodendron. Two monogeneric subfamilies, Dictyolomatoideae and Spathelioideae, are now included in the subfamily Cneoroideae, along with genera Engler placed in other families. The remaining four Engler subfamilies were Aurantioideae, Rutoideae, Flindersioideae and Toddalioideae. Engler's division into subfamilies largely relied on the characteristics of the fruit, as did others used until molecular phylogenetic methods were applied.
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Rutaceae
The Rutaceae (/ruːˈteɪsiˌaɪ, -siːˌiː/) is a family, commonly known as the rue or citrus family, of flowering plants, usually placed in the order Sapindales.
Species of the family generally have flowers that divide into four or five parts, usually with strong scents. They range in form and size from herbs to shrubs and large trees.
The most economically important genus in the family is Citrus, which includes the orange (C. × sinensis), lemon (C. × limon), grapefruit (C. × paradisi), and lime (various). Boronia is a large Australian genus, some members of which are plants with highly fragrant flowers and are used in commercial oil production. Other large genera include Zanthoxylum, several species of which are cultivated for Sichuan pepper, Melicope, and Agathosma. The family Rutaceae contains about 160 genera.
Most species are trees or shrubs, a few are herbs (the type genus Ruta, Boenninghausenia, and Dictamnus), frequently aromatic with glands on the leaves, sometimes with thorns. The leaves are usually opposed and compound and without stipules. Pellucid glands, a type of oil gland, are found in the leaves responsible for the aromatic smell of the family's members; traditionally they have been the primary synapomorphic characteristic to identify the Rutaceae.[citation needed]
Flowers are bractless, solitary or in cyme, rarely in raceme, and mainly pollinated by insects. They are radially or (rarely) laterally symmetric and generally hermaphroditic. They have four or five—sometimes three—mostly separate petals and sepals and eight to ten stamen (five in Skimmia, many in Citrus), usually separate or in several groups. Usually they have only a single stigma with 2 to 5 united carpels. Their ovaries are sometimes separate, but their styles are combined.[citation needed]
The fruit of the Rutaceae are very variable: berries, drupes, hesperidia, samaras, capsules, and follicles all occur. Seed number also varies widely.[citation needed]
The family is closely related to the Sapindaceae, Simaroubaceae, and Meliaceae, and all are usually placed into the same order, although older systems separate that order into Rutales and Sapindales. The families Flindersiaceae and Ptaeroxylaceae are sometimes kept separate, but nowadays generally are placed in the Rutaceae, as are the former Cneoraceae.[citation needed]
In 1896, Engler published a division of the family Rutaceae into seven subfamilies. One, Rhabdodendroideae, is no longer considered to belong to the Rutaceae, being treated as the segregate family Rhabdodendraceae, containing only the genus Rhabdodendron. Two monogeneric subfamilies, Dictyolomatoideae and Spathelioideae, are now included in the subfamily Cneoroideae, along with genera Engler placed in other families. The remaining four Engler subfamilies were Aurantioideae, Rutoideae, Flindersioideae and Toddalioideae. Engler's division into subfamilies largely relied on the characteristics of the fruit, as did others used until molecular phylogenetic methods were applied.