Nyctaginaceae

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Ordo: Caryophyllales

Familia: Nyctaginaceae
Tribus: Boldoeae – Bougainvilleeae – Caribeeae – Colignonieae – Leucastereae – Nyctagineae – Pisonieae

Genera: Abronia – Acleisanthes – Allionia – Andradea – Anulocaulis – Belemia – Boerhavia – Boldoa – Bougainvillea – Caribea – Cephalotomandra – Colignonia – Commicarpus – Cryptocarpus – Cuscatlania – Cyphomeris – Grajalesia – Guapira – Leucaster – Mirabilis – Neea – Neeopsis – Nyctaginia – Okenia – Oxybaphus – Phaeoptilum – Pisonia – Pisoniella – Ramisia – Reichenbachia – Salpianthus – Tripterocalyx
Name

Nyctaginaceae Juss. Gen. Pl. 90. (1789) nom. cons. as "Nyctagines"

Type genus: Nyctago Juss. Gen. Pl. 90. (1789) nom. illeg. superfl. vide Mirabilis L. Sp. Pl. 1: 177. (1753)

Synonyms

Allioniaceae Horan. Prim. Lin. Syst. Nat. 68. (1834)
Bougainvilleaceae J.Agardh Theoria Syst. Pl. 364. (1858)
Pisoniaceae J.Agardh Theoria Syst. Pl. 363. (1858)
Mirabilidaceae W.R.B.Oliv. Trans. & Proc. Roy. Soc. New Zealand 66: 294. (1936)

References

Jussieu, A.L. de 1789. Genera Plantarum 90.
Douglas, N.A. & Manos, P.S. 2007. Molecular phylogeny of Nyctaginaceae: taxonomy, biogeography, and characters associated with a radiation of xerophytic genera in North America. American Journal of Botany 94(5): 856-872. DOI: 10.3732/ajb.94.5.856 Full text PDF Reference page.
Douglas N.A. & Spellenberg R. 2010. A new tribal classification of Nyctaginaceae. Taxon 59: 905–910. Full text PDF from ResearchGate Reference page.
Hernández-Ledesma, P., Berendsohn, W. G., Borsch, T., Mering, S. v., Akhani, H., Arias, S., Castañeda-Noa, I., Eggli, U., Eriksson, R., Flores-Olvera, H., Fuentes-Bazán, S., Kadereit, G., Klak, C., Korotkova, N., Nyffeler R., Ocampo G., Ochoterena, H., Oxelman, B., Rabeler, R. K., Sanchez, A., Schlumpberger, B. O. & Uotila, P. 2015. A taxonomic backbone for the global synthesis of species diversity in the angiosperm order Caryophyllales. Willdenowia 45(3): 281–383. DOI: 10.3372/wi.45.45301 Open access Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2017. Nyctaginaceae. Published online. Accessed: Apr. 27 2017.
Stevens, P.F. 2001 onwards. Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 14, July 2017 [and more or less continuously updated since]. Online. Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2017. Nyctaginaceae. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 11 May 2017.

Vernacular names
Deutsch: Wunderblumengewächse
English: Four O'Clock Family
español: Nictagináceas
suomi: Ihmekukkakasvit
français: Nyctaginacées
magyar: Csodatölcsérfélék, éjjelnyílók
한국어: 분꽃과
norsk: Mirakelblomstfamilien
polski: Dziwaczkowate
svenska: Underblommeväxter
中文: 紫茉莉科

Nyctaginaceae, the four o'clock family, is a family of around 33 genera and 290 species of flowering plants, widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions, with a few representatives in temperate regions. The family has a unique fruit type, called an "anthocarp", and many genera have extremely large (>100 µm) pollen grains.

The family has been almost universally recognized by plant taxonomists. The APG II system (2003; unchanged from the APG system of 1998), assigns it to the order Caryophyllales in the clade core eudicots.

A phylogenetic study by Levin has justified the combination of Selinocarpus and Ammocodon into the genus Acleisanthes. The genus Izabalea is now considered a synonym of Agonandra, a genus in Opiliaceae. A more recent study by Douglas and Manos clarified the relationships among almost all of the genera in the family and demonstrated that a substantial diversification of herbaceous genera has occurred in arid North America. Many genera of Nyctaginaceae possess unusual characters. Notable examples include sticky bands on the stems between the nodes, cleistogamous flowers (which self-pollinate without opening), or gypsophily, the ability to grow on soils with a high concentration of gypsum.
Genera

Tribe Boldoeae

Boldoa Cav. ex Lag.
Cryptocarpus Kunth
Salpianthus Humb. & Bonpl.[3]

Tribe Bougainvilleeae

Belemia Pires
Bougainvillea Comm. ex Juss.
Phaeoptilum Radlk.[4]

Tribe Caribeeae

Caribea[5]

Tribe Colignonieae

Colignonia[6]

Tribe Nyctagineae

Abronia Juss.
Acleisanthes A.Gray
Allionia L.
Anulocaulis Standl.
Boerhavia L.
Commicarpus Standl.

Cuscatlania Standl.
Cyphomeris Standl.
Mirabilis L.
Nyctaginia Choisy
Okenia Schlecht. & Cham.
Tripterocalyx (Torr.) Hook.[7]

Tribe Leucastereae

Andradea Allemão
Leucaster Choisy
Ramisia Glaz. ex Baill.
Reichenbachia Spreng.[8]

Tribe Pisonieae

Cephalotomandra H.Karst. & Triana
Grajalesia Miranda
Guapira Aubl.
Neea Ruiz & Pav.
Neeopsis Lundell
Pisonia L.
Pisoniella (Heimerl) Standl.[9]
Rockia Heimerl

The extinct genus Mennegoxylon has been provisionally placed in the family.[10]

Note; as of February 2022, Plants of the World Online classes Boldoa as a synonym of Salpianthus and Grajalesia as a synonym of Pisonia.[11][12]
Uses

The family contains one food crop, the mauka (Mirabilis extensa), a root vegetable of minor local importance in the Andes. Garden Four-O'Clocks Mirabilis jalapa species are grown as ornamental plants, as are species of Bougainvillea (Bougainvillea glabra, B. spectabilis, and numerous hybrids), Bougainvillea and Abronia are commonly cultivated in warmer regions.
References

Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2009). "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III" (PDF). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 161 (2): 105–121. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x. Retrieved 2013-07-06.
"Family: Nyctaginaceae Juss., nom. cons". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2003-01-17. Archived from the original on 2009-05-06. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
"GRIN Genera of Nyctaginaceae tribe Boldoeae". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
"GRIN Genera of Nyctaginaceae tribe Bougainvilleeae". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
"GRIN Genera of Nyctaginaceae tribe Caribeeae". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
"GRIN Genera of Nyctaginaceae tribe Colignonieae". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
"GRIN Genera of Nyctaginaceae tribe Nyctagineae". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
"GRIN Genera of Nyctaginaceae tribe Leucastereae". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
"GRIN Genera of Nyctaginaceae tribe Pisonieae". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
Wheeler, Elisabeth; Manchester, Steven R. (January 2002). "Woods of the Middle Eocene Nut Beds Flora, Clarno Formation, Oregon, USA" (PDF). IAWA Journal. Nationaal Herbarium Nederland, The Netherlands: International Association of Wood Anatomists (3): 156. Retrieved 27 January 2021.
"Boldoa Cav. ex Lag. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 8 February 2022.

"Grajalesia Miranda | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 8 February 2022.

Levin, 2000, Phylogenetic relationships within Nyctaginaceae tribe Nyctagineae: Evidence from nuclear and chloroplast genomes. Systematic Botany 24(4) 738-750. (Subscription req.)
Douglas, NA and Manos, PS. 2007. Molecular phylogeny of Nyctaginaceae: taxonomy, biogeography, and characters associated with a radiation of xerophytic genera in North America. American Journal of Botany 94(5) 856-872.