Pentaphylax

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Ordo: Ericales

Familia: Pentaphylacaceae
Tribus: Pentaphylaceae
Genus: Pentaphylax
Species: P. euryoides
Name

Pentaphylax Gardner & Champ.
References

USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Pentaphylax in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 09-Oct-10.

Pentaphylax is a genus of flowering plants, with one[1] or two[2] species which are shrubs and small trees. The species has simple evergreen leaves that are alternately arranged on the stems. The flower pistil is 5 celled and the anthers dehiscing via pores and basifixed. Flowers have five petals and five sepals that are distinct from each other and five stamens attached oppositely to the sepals. The seeds are winged.

Native from Tropical areas of South China to Malay Peninsula and Sumatra.

Species include:

Pentaphylax euryoides[3]

Taxonomy

The APG III system of 2009 places the genus in the family Pentaphylacaceae, along with genera formerly placed in the Ternstroemiaceae.[4] Pentaphylax has often been placed in its own family, the Pentaphylacaceae, separated from the Theaceae or Ternstroemiaceae based on the structure of the anthers and, arguably, the ovules. However, some molecular data and curved embryos (typical of the Ternstroemiaceae) point to a close relationship with the Ternstroemiaceae.[5][6]

The taxonomic placement of this species and the family has varied, due mostly to a shortage of information. Included here are some classifications given by different botanists:

Short's Subclass Dicotyledonae; Crassinucelli (?).
Dahlgren's Superorder Theiflorae (?); Theales (?).
Cronquist’s Subclass Dilleniidae; Theales.
Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (1998) family of uncertain position at the highest group level.[2]
subfamily Ternstroemioideae within the Theaceae.[1]

References

"Pentaphylacaceae". Flora of China.
Pentaphylacaceae Engl., Angiosperm Phylogeny Website
"Pentaphylax euryoides". Flora of China.
Angiosperm Phylogeny Group III (2009). "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 161 (2): 105–121. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x.
Arne A. Anderberg, Catarina Rydin and Mari Källersjö (2002). "Phylogenetic relationships in the order Ericales s.l.: analyses of molecular data from five genes from the plastid and mitochondrial genomes". American Journal of Botany. 89 (4): 677–687. doi:10.3732/ajb.89.4.677. PMID 21665668.
Bremer, B; Bremer, K; Heidari, N; Erixon, P; Olmstead, RG; Anderberg, AA; Källersjö, M; Barkhordarian, E (2002). "Phylogenetics of asterids based on 3 coding and 3 non-coding chloroplast DNA markers and the utility of non-coding DNA at higher taxonomic levels" (PDF). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 24 (2): 274–301. doi:10.1016/S1055-7903(02)00240-3. PMID 12144762.