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Family:

Aizoaceae (Magnoliophyta)

Accepted Name:

This name is currently accepted.

Common Names:

Fig-marigold Family

Description:

Number of genera: 12

Number of species: 2,500

Description (from PLANTAE): Herbs or shrubs, usually succulent. Leaves usually opposite or in false whorls, sometimes alternate, simple, fleshy or reduced to scales, often sessile with connate bases. Inflorescences cymose or flowers solitary, usually terminal or appearing axillary. Flowers often showy, bisexual, actinomorphic; perianth uniseriate, free or connate basally, the tepals 5-8, herbaceous, often with dorsal, subapical appendages, the dorsal surface usually green, the ventral surface variously colored; androecium of basically 5 stamens (or many due to splitting), when many, the outermost ones sterile and petaloid, the filaments free or connate at the base, the anthers small, 2-celled, dehiscing longitudinally; gynoecium syncarpous, the ovary superior or inferior, the carpels usually 5 (sometimes 1-many), the locules 1-many, the placentation usually axile, sometimes parietal or basal, the ovules usually many, the style 1 or absent, the stigmas 2-20 and usually radiating. Fruit a loculicidal capsule, sometimes hard, ± indehiscent and drupaceous or barrylike, sometimes aggregates. Seed ± ovoid, sometimes arillate, the embryo curved.

Taxonomic notes (from PLANTAE): The family is well placed within the Caryophyllales, posessing a number of characteristics of the order. There is no concensus on its relation to other taxa within order. The family is subdivided into 5 subfamilies, with these falling into two groups, separated by the presence of petaloid staminodes and a basic chromosome number of x = 9 (Mesembryanthemoideae and Ruschioideae) or the absence of petaloid staminodes with the ventral face of the tepals colored and a basic chromosome number x = 8 (Aizooideae, Sesuvioideae and Tetragonioideae)

Distribution (from PLANTAE): Tropics and subtropics, often in drier areas. The main center of diversity is in parts of southern Africa with a Mediterranean climate (where most rain falls in the winter). Elsewhere the family ranges up the coast to north Africa, around the Mediterranean, Asia minor, Iraq, Iran, India, Australia and New Zealand. One genus, Cypsela, is endemic to the Western Hemisphere along the pacific coasts of North and South America and the Caribbean. Some taxa are widespread weeds and some are cultivated, sometimes blurring the natural distribution.

Economic uses (from PLANTAE): The family is economically important as low-maintenance ground covers for hot, dry regions and as novelties such as stone-crops (Lithops).

Chemistry notes (from PLANTAE): The presence of betalains unequivically place the family among the Centrospermae. Phenylananin derived alkaloids occur in several genera

Flora and Monograph Treatment(s):

Aizoaceae: [Book] Gleason, Henry A. & Cronquist, Arthur J. 1991. Manual of vascular plants of northeastern United States and adjacent Canada. lxxv + 910 pp.