Malvaceae

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Read about Malvaceae in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture 

Malvaceae (from the genus Mallow, altered from the Greek, in allusion to the mucilaginous emollient qualities). Mallow Family. Fig. 37. Herbs, shrubs or trees, with alternate, simple, usually palmately veined leaves: flowers bisexual, regular; sepals 5, often united, valvate, frequently bracteolate at the base; petals 5, convolute, often adnate to the stamens; stamens very numerous, hypogynous, the filaments united into a tube (monadelphous), anthers 1-celled, pollen spiny; ovary superior, 2 to many-celled, rarely 1-celled; ovules in each cell 1 to many; styles and stigmas usually as many as the carpels: fruit a capsule or separating into drupelets, very rarely fleshy.

The Mallows include 39 genera and from 800 to 900 species, distributed over the whole earth, except in the arctic zone, but most abundant in tropical America. The Malvaceae are closely related to the Sterculiaceae and Tiliaceae. From the former they are distinguished by their 1-celled anthers and rough pollen, and from the latter by their monadelphous stamens as well as the 1-celled anthers. The hollyhock-like flower is characteristic.

The foliage, stems, and seeds of most Malvaceae contain abundant mucilage for which, in some countries, they have been used as medicine. Pungent and poisonous properties are apparently wanting. Althaea officinalis (marsh mallow of Europe), Malva sylvestris and M. rotundifolia, both of Europe, have been used as emollients. Hibiscus Sabdariffa and H. digitatus (white and rod ketmies of tropical Africa) have acid juice and are used in the preparation of refreshing drinks. The capsule of H. (Abelmoschus) esculentus (okra or gumbo) of the tropics is eaten in soup, or cooked and seasoned. The seeds of H. Abelmoschus of India, now widely cultivated in the tropics, are used for perfumery. H. Rosa-sinensis (Chinese hibiscus or shoeblack plant) contains a coloring matter in the flower with which the Chinese blacken shoes and eyebrows. Althaea cannabina of southern Europe has fibers which may be used in place of hemp. The fibers of Urena lobata, Abutilon indicum, Sida, Hibiscus cannabinus, H. tiliaceus, and others, are also used. The most useful genus is Gossypium (cotton) of Egypt, India, and tropical America, the abundant, long, woolly hairs on the seeds of which furnish the cotton of commerce. Cotton seed yields an oil which is used for fuel, cattle-food, soap, artificial butter, and many other purposes. Several mallows are weedy plants.

Many of the genera in cultivation in N. America are among the most important old-fashioned cultivated garden plants. Among these are: Abutilon (Indian Mallow, Velvet Leaf); Althaea (Marsh Mallow, Hollyhock); Callirhoe (Poppy Mallow); Gossypium (Cotton); Hibiscus (Bladder Ketmia, Roselle, Jamaica Sorrel, Okra, Gumbo, Rose of Sharon, Mountain Mahoe, Shoeblack Plant); Malope; Malvastrum; Pavonia; Sida; Sphaeralcea.

CH


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Malvaceae
Least Mallow, Malva parviflora
Least Mallow, Malva parviflora
Plant Info
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Division: Magnoliophyta
Class: Magnoliopsida
Order: Malvales
Family: Malvaceae
Juss.

Subfamilies
Bombacoideae

Brownlowioideae
Byttnerioideae
Dombeyoideae
Grewioideae
Helicteroideae
Malvoideae
Sterculioideae
Tilioideae

Malvaceae, or the mallow family, is a family of flowering plants containing a number of genera, generally with five showy petals and five green sepals and numerous stamens that are fused at the base and form a tube around the pistil. Most species are herbs or shrubs but some species are trees. There are over 100 genera with close to 1,500 species in the family depending on the classification of some of the genera. Most species have stellate hairs and mucus like sap. The best recognized genera include Malva, Abutilon, Althaea, Lavatera, Abelmoschus, Malope, Hibiscus plus others that are grown as garden plants over many regions of the world. A number are pest species in agriculture, including Abutilon theophrasti and Modiola caroliniana plus others that are garden escapes. Cotton (4 species of Gossypium), kenaf (Hibiscus cannabinus) and okra (Abelmoschus esculentus) are important agricultural crops.

There are two main views on the circumscription of the family. One view takes the traditionally narrow view of the family, Malvaceae sensu stricto. The APG II system takes a broader circumscription on the basis of molecular phylogenies that show that while Malvaceae s.s. is cladistically monophyletic, several closely related families of order Malvales are not monophyletic. This definition of the family unites the core Malvales of the Cronquist system, including Bombacaceae, Malvaceae s.s., Sterculiaceae and Tiliaceae, into the wider Malvaceae sensu lato.

Malvaceae sensu stricto

That Malvaceae s.s. comprise a cladistically monophyletic group has been confirmed by recent molecular phylogenies. It is a homogeneous taxon, so homogeneous that the subfamily category is not applicable, Malvaceae s.s. is only subdivided in tribes.

The family most closely related to Malvaceae s.s. is Bombacaceae, and the two are separated primarily on the basis of pollen characters (smooth or rugose in Bombacaceae, spiny in Malvaceae). Malvaceae s.s. also tend to be herbs or shrubs, whereas Bombacaceae are usually trees. Molecular phylogenies have demonstrated that Bombacaceae is cladistically paraphyletic with respect to Malvaceae s.s.

It has been recognised by most compilers of high-level classifications, including:

Thus forming a solid consensus that was achieved mainly on the basis in morphological field.

Malvaceae is still accepted in its restricted sense in several nomenclatural compilations: at IK, APNI (Australian Plant Names Index) and GCI (Gray Card Index) at IPNI (see also list of systems of plant taxonomy); and in several herbaria of the whole world, besides being the classification "standard" of many reference works such as manuals, floras and very important: identification keys (see Thonner's analytical key to the families of flowering plants).

A different approach was taken by Edlin (1935), who restricted Malvaceae even further by transferring the genera with capsular fruits, including Gossypium and Hibiscus, into a more broadly defined Bombacaceae.

Malvaceae sensu stricto as traditionally defined consists of about 111-119 genera, totalling about 1,500 species. This includes the mallows, cotton plants, okra, hibiscus, and hollyhocks.

Genera

Sources: Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Kubitzki Vol. 5 (2003)(as subfamily Malvoideae) and Malvaceae Info Website.

Malvaceae sensu lato

In the broader APG circumscription, the Malvaceae are also a cladistically monophyletic group but take in a much larger number of genera. Because molecular phylogenies have shown that Bombacaceae, Tiliaceae, and Sterculiaceae as traditionally defined are closely related to Malvaceae s.s. but are not monophyletic groups, Malvaceae have been expanded to include these families. This expanded definition has been adopted by numerous researchers on the Malvales (e.g., Baum et al. 2004, Perveen et al. 2004, Tate et al. 2005).

Whether a consensus in favor of a broad or narrow circumscription of Malvaceae will be adopted, or something in between, remains to be seen. The broad circumscription of Malvaceae has been adopted in textbooks on plant systematics (Judd et al. 1999), in a comprehensive treatment of vascular plant families and genera, the Kubitzki system, by Bayer & Kubitzki (2003), and in a treatment of Neotropical plant families by Maas & Westra (2005). The most recent version of the Thorne system takes an intermediate approach in combining Bombacaceae and Sterculiaceae under Malvaceae, but retaining Byttneriaceae (containing elements of the traditional Sterculiaceae and Tiliaceae) and a considerably restricted Tiliaceae as separate families.

Malvaceae sensu APG is a family of about 250 genera; it thus also includes lindens, kapok, baobabs, balsa, cacao (chocolate), durian etc. There are nine subfamilies (Bayer et al. 1999, Bayer & Kubitzki 2003):

Selected genera

References

  1. ↑ Heywood, V. H., Brummitt, R. K., Culham, A. & Seberg, O. (2007). Flowering Plant Families of the World. Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada: Firefly Books. ISBN 1-55407-206-9. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Tate, J. A., Aguilar, J. F., Wagstaff, S. J., La Duke, J. C., Slotta, T. A. B. & Simpson, B. B. (2005).Phylogenetic relationships within the tribe Malveae (Malvaceae, subfamily Malvoideae) as inferred from ITS sequence data. American Journal of Botany 92(4): 584–602.
  • Baum, D. A., W. S. Alverson, and R. Nyffeler (1998). "A durian by any other name: taxonomy and nomenclature of the core Malvales". Harvard Papers in Botany 3: 315–330. 
  • Baum, D. A., S. D. Smith2, A. Yen, W. S. Alverson, R. Nyffeler, B. A. Whitlock and R. L. Oldham (2004). "Phylogenetic relationships of Malvatheca (Bombacoideae and Malvoideae; Malvaceae sensu lato) as inferred from plastid DNA sequences". American Journal of Botany 91: 1863-1871.  (abstract online here).
  • Bayer, C., J. R. Hoppe, K. Kubitzki, M. F. Fay, A. Y. De Bruijn, V. Savolainen, C. M. Morton, K. Kubitzki, W. S. Alverson, and M. W. Chase (1999). "Support for an expanded family concept of Malvaceae within a recircumscribed order Malvales: a combined analysis of plastid atpB and rbcL DNA sequences". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 129: 267–303. 
  • Bayer, C. and K. Kubitzki 2003. Malvaceae, pp. 225-311. In K. Kubitzki (ed.), The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants, vol. 5, Malvales, Capparales and non-betalain Caryophyllales.
  • Edlin, H. L. (1935). "A critical revision of certain taxonomic groups of the Malvales". New Phytologist (1-20): 122-143. 
  • Judd, W. S., and S. R. Manchester (1997). "Circumscription of Malvaceae (Malvales) as determined by a preliminary cladistic analysis of morphological, anatomical, palynological, and chemical characters". Brittonia 49: 384–405. 
  • Judd, W. S., C. S. Campbell, E. A. Kellogg and P. F. Stevens. Plant Systematics: A Phylogenetic Approach.
  • Maas, P. J. M. and L. Y. Th. Westra. 2005. Neotropical Plant Families (3rd edition).
  • Perveen, A., E. Grafström and G. El-Ghazaly (2004). "World Pollen and Spore Flora 23. Malvaceae Adams. P.p. Subfamilies: Grewioideae, Tilioideae, Brownlowioideae". Grana 43: 129-155.  (abstract online here).
  • Tate, J. A., J. F. Aguilar, S. J. Wagstaff, J. C. La Duke5, T. A. Bodo Slotta and B. B. Simpson (2005). "Phylogenetic relationships within the tribe Malveae (Malvaceae, subfamily Malvoideae) as inferred from ITS sequence data". American Journal of Botany 92: 584-602.  (abstract online here).

External links

Malvaceae sensu lato:

  • Malvaceae Info, includes much recent taxonomic discussion and a full list of about 250 genera; also numerous photos

Malvaceae sensu stricto:

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