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{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = Proteaceae
| image = Protea cynaroides 3.jpg
| image_caption = [[Inflorescence]] of ''[[Protea cynaroides]]''
| regnum = [[Plant]]ae
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Magnoliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Proteales]]
| familia = '''Proteaceae'''
| familia_authority = [[Antoine Laurent de Jussieu|Juss.]]
| subdivision_ranks = Genera
| subdivision = About 80, see text
}}

'''Proteaceae''' is a [[family (biology)|family]] of [[flowering plants]]. Mainly restricted to the [[Southern Hemisphere]], it is a fairly large family, with around 80 [[genus|genera]] but fewer than 2000 [[species]]. Together with the [[Platanaceae]] and [[Nelumbonaceae]] they make up the order [[Proteales]].

==Description==
Many proteaceae are highly variable, with ''[[Banksia]]'' in particular providing one of the most striking examples of [[adaptive radiation]] in plants<ref name="Mast 2002">{{cite journal | author = Mast, A. R. and Givnish, T. J. | year = 2002 | title = Historical Biogeography and the Origin of Stomatal Distributions in Banksia & Dryandra (Proteaceae) Based on Their cpDNA Phylogeny | journal = American Journal of Botany | volume = 89 | issue = 8 | pages = 1311–1323 | id = ISSN 0002-9122}}</ref>. This variability makes it impossible to provide a simple, diagnostic identification key for the family, although individual genera may be easily identified.

Proteaceae are generally [[tree]]s or [[shrub]]s, except for some ''[[Stirlingia]]'' species which are [[herb]]s. They are [[evergreen]], with leaves that vary greatly in size, shape and margin. In many genera, the most obvious feature is the large and often very showy [[inflorescence]]s, consisting of many small [[flower]]s densely packed into a compact head or spike. Even this character, however, does not occur in all Proteaceae: ''[[Adenanthos]]'' species, for example, have solitary flowers. In most Proteaceae species the pollination mechanism is highly specialised. It usually involves the use of a "pollen-presenter", an area on the [[carpel|style]]-end that presents the [[pollen]] to the pollinator.<ref name="Watson 1992">{{cite web | author = Watson, L. and Dallwitz, M. J. | title = Proteaceae | url = http://delta-intkey.com/angio/www/proteace.htm | year = 1992 onwards | work = [http://delta-intkey.com/angio/ The Families of Flowering Plants: Descriptions, Illustrations, Identification, Information retrieval] | date = [[3 May]] [[2006]] | accessdate = 2006-06-26}}</ref>

==Distribution and ecology==
[[Image:Pincushion hakea03.jpg|thumb|right|
[[Inflorescence]] and leaves of the [[Pincushion Hakea]] (''Hakea laurina'')]]

Proteaceae are mainly a southern hemisphere family, with its main centres of diversity in [[Australia]] and [[South Africa]]. It also occurs in Central Africa, [[South America|South]] and [[Central America]], [[India]], eastern and south-eastern [[Asia]], and [[Oceania]]<ref name="Flora of Australia">{{cite book | author = Orchard, Anthony E. (ed.) | title = Flora of Australia, Volume 16: Elaeagnaceae, Proteaceae 1 | url = http://www.deh.gov.au/biodiversity/abrs/online-resources/flora/main/ | chapter = Proteaceae | chapterurl = http://www.anbg.gov.au/abrs/online-resources/flora/stddisplay.xsql?pnid=1893 | location = Melbourne | publisher = Australian Biological Resources Study / CSIRO Publishing}}</ref>. Only two species are known from New Zealand although fossil pollen evidence suggests there were more previously<ref>{{cite journal | author = Pole M| year = 1998 | title = The Proteaceae record in New Zealand| journal = Australian Systematic Botany | volume = 11 | issue = 4 | pages = 343–372 }}</ref>.

It is a good example of a [[Gondwana]]n family, with taxa occurring on virtually every land mass considered a remnant of the ancient [[supercontinent]] Gondwana. The family and sub-families are thought to have diversified well before the fragmentation of Gondwana, implying that all of them are well over 90 million years old. Evidence for this includes an abundance of proteaceous [[pollen]] found in the [[Cretaceous]] [[coal]] deposits of the [[South Island]] of [[New Zealand]]. It is thought to have achieved its present distribution largely by [[continental drift]] rather than dispersal across ocean gaps. <ref name="Weston 1996">{{cite book | author = Weston, P. H. and Crisp, M. D. | year = 1996 | chapter = Trans-Pacific biogeographic patterns in the Proteaceae | editor = Keast, A. and Miller, S. E. (eds) | title = The origin and evolution of Pacific Island Biotas, New Guinea to eastern Polynesia: Patterns and processes | pages = 215–232 | location = Amsterdam | publisher=SPB Academic Publishing | id = ISBN 90-5103-136-X}}</ref>

Many of the Proteaceae have specialised [[proteoid root]]s. These are dense masses of short lateral roots produced in the leaf litter layer during seasonal growth, and usually shrivelling at the end of the growth season. They are apparently an adaptation to growth in poor soil, greatly increasing the plants access to scarce water and nutrients by increasing the root's absorption surface.<ref name="Flora of Australia"/> However, this adaptation leaves them highly vulnerable to dieback caused by the ''[[Phytophthora cinnamomi]]'' [[water mould]], and generally intolerant of [[fertilizer|fertilization]]. Due to these specialized proteoid roots, the Proteaceae are one of few flowering plant families which do not form symbioses with arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi.

==Taxonomy==
[[Image:Banksia coccinea (Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae plate 3).jpg|thumb|right|Flowers, leaves and fruit of ''Banksia coccinea'', from [[Ferdinand Bauer]]'s 1813 flora ''[[Illustrationes Florae Novae Hollandiae]]'']]
Proteaceae is a fairly large family, with approximately eighty genera, but less than two thousand species. Well known genera include ''[[Protea]]'', ''[[Banksia]]'', ''[[Embothrium]]'', ''[[Grevillea]]'', ''[[Hakea]]'', ''[[Dryandra]]'' and ''[[Macadamia]]''.

It is recognised by virtually all [[taxonomy|taxonomists]]. Firmly established under classical [[Linnaean taxonomy]], it is also recognised by the [[cladistics]]-based [[APG system|APG]] and [[APG II system|APG II]] systems. It is placed in the order [[Proteales]], whose placement has itself varied.

The framework for classification of the genera within Proteaceae was laid in 1975 by [[Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson|L. A. S. Johnson]] and [[Barbara G. Briggs|Barbara Briggs]].<ref name="Lawrence 1975">{{cite journal|author = [[Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson|L. A. S. Johnson]] and [[Barbara G. Briggs|Briggs, B. G.]] | year = 1975 | title = On the Proteaceae – the evolution and classification of a southern family | journal = Journal of the Linnean Society of London. Botany | volume = 70 | pages = 83–182}}</ref> Their classification has been refined somewhat over the ensuing three decades, resulting in a fairly stable and widely accepted arrangement. Proteaceae is now divided into seven subfamilies: [[Persoonioideae]], [[Bellendenoideae]], [[Eidotheoideae]], [[Proteoideae]], [[Sphalmioideae]], [[Carnarvonioideae]] and [[Grevilleoideae]].

===List of genera===
{|
|- valign=top
|
* ''[[Acidonia]]''
* ''[[Adenanthos]]''
* ''[[Agastachys]]''
* ''[[Alloxylon]]''
* ''[[Athertonia]]''
* ''[[Aulax]]''
* ''[[Austromuellera]]''
* ''[[Banksia]]''
* ''[[Beauprea]]''
* ''[[Beapreopsis]]''
* ''[[Bellendena]]''
* ''[[Brabejum]]''
* ''[[Buckinghamia]]''
* ''[[Cardwellia]]''
* ''[[Carnarvonia]]''
* ''[[Cenarrhenes]]''
* ''[[Conospermum]]''
* ''[[Darlingia]]''
* ''[[Diastella]]''
* ''[[Dilobeia]]''
|
* ''[[Dryandra]]''
* ''[[Eidothea]]''
* ''[[Embothrium]]''
* ''[[Eucarpha]]''
* ''[[Euplassa]]''
* ''[[Faurea]]''
* ''[[Finschia]]''
* ''[[Floydia]]''
* ''[[Franklandia]]''
* ''[[Garnieria]]''
* ''[[Gevuina]]''
* ''[[Grevillea]]''
* ''[[Hakea]]''
* ''[[Helicia]]''
* ''[[Heliciopsis]]''
* ''[[Hicksbeachia]]''
* ''[[Hollandaea]]''
* ''[[Isopogon]]''
* ''[[Kermadecia]]''
|
* ''[[Knightia (plant)|Knightia]]''
* ''[[Lambertia]]''
* ''[[Leucadendron]]''
* ''[[Leucospermum]]''
* ''[[Lomatia]]''
* ''[[Macadamia]]''
* ''[[Malagasia]]''
* ''[[Mimetes]]''
* ''[[Musgravea]]''
* ''[[Neorites]]''
* ''[[Opisthiolepis]]''
* ''[[Oreocallis]]''
* ''[[Orites]]''
* ''[[Orothamnus]]''
* ''[[Panopsis]]''
* ''[[Paranomus]]''
* ''[[Persoonia]]''
* ''[[Petrophile]]''
* ''[[Placospermum]]''
|
* ''[[Protea]]''
* ''[[Roupala]]''
* ''[[Serruria]]''
* ''[[Sleumerodendron]]''
* ''[[Sorocephalus]]''
* ''[[Spatalla]]''
* ''[[Sphalmium]]''
* ''[[Stenocarpus]]''
* ''[[Stirlingia]]''
* ''[[Strangea]]''
* ''[[Symphionema]]''
* ''[[Synaphea]]''
* ''[[Waratah|Telopea]]''
* ''[[Toronia]]''
* ''[[Triunia]]''
* ''[[Turrillia]]''
* ''[[Vexatorella]]''
* ''[[Virotia]]''
* ''[[Xylomelum]]''
|}

==Uses==
[[Image:MacNut2.JPG|thumb|right|Edible nuts of ''[[Macadamia]]'']]
Many Proteaceae species are cultivated by the [[nursery (horticulture)|nursery]] industry, as barrier plants and for their prominent and distinctive flowers and foliage. Some species are of importance to the [[floristry|cut flower industry]], especially some ''[[Banksia]]'' and ''[[Protea]]'' species. Two species of the genus ''[[Macadamia]]'' are grown commercially for edible nuts. [[Gevuina avellana]] (Chilean hazel) tree is cultivated for its nuts in [[Chile]] and [[New Zealand]], which are edible, and are used in pharmaceutical industry for skin treatment because of its moisturizing properties and as ingredient in [[sunscreen]]s. Among the trees within the family which produce nuts it is the hardiest. It is also planted in the [[British Isles]] and the Pacific Coast of the [[United States]] because it is a tropical aspect (and related) tree that can grow in cool climates.

==References==
<references/>

==External links==
{{Wikispecies}}
{{Commonscat|Proteaceae}}

* [http://www.anbg.gov.au/images/photo_cd/proteaceae/ Images of proteaceae from the Australian National Botanical Gardens]
* [http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=10730 Proteaceae in the ''Flora of China'']
* [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/Taxonomy/Browser/wwwtax.cgi?mode=Tree&id=4328&lvl=3&p=mapview&p=has_linkout&p=blast_url&p=genome_blast&lin=f&keep=1&srchmode=1&unlock Proteaceae in the NCBI Taxonomy Browser]


[[Category:Proteaceae| ]]
[[Category:Plant families]]
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