Anisophylleaceae, Ridley, 1922

Chen, Xin, He, Hai & Zhang, Li-Bing, 2015, A monograph of the Anisophylleaceae (Cucurbitales) with description of 18 new species of Anisophyllea, Phytotaxa 229 (1), pp. 448-450 : 448-450

Affinities of Anisophylleaceae with other families

The relationships of Anisophylleaceae have been controversial. The ordinal positions of the four genera currently included are even less agreed upon than the family composition. Traditionally, Anisophylleaceae are thought to have close affinities with Rhizophoraceae . Melchior (1964) and Takhtajan (1980) assigned Rhizophoraceae , including Anisophylleae , to the Myrtales . Studies of wood anatomy and leaf architecture supported the close relationships between Anisophylleaceae and Rhizophoraceae ( van Vliet 1976 ). The consensus of the symposium on the Myrtales at Sydney in 1981 ( Dahlgren & Thorne 1984) was that the family should be excluded from that order. Embryological evidence ( Tobe & Raven 1987a) and some aspects of vegetative anatomy ( Juncosa & Tomlinson 1988b) suggested that Anisophylleaceae may be related to the Myrtales .

Cronquist (1981) concluded that Anisophylleaceae were not closely related to Rhizophoraceae and assigned them to Rosales (Rosidae) and Rhizophoraceae s.s. to its own order, Rhizophorales (Rosidae). Cronquist (1983) retained the two families apart in his Rosidae with Anisophylleaceae in the Rosales and Rhizophoraceae in the Rhizophorales. Based mainly on floral and embryological characters, several additional authors ( Tobe & Raven 1988c, Thorne 1992) proposed that Anisophylleaceae are related to the Rosales. Dahlgren (1983, 1988) and Behnke (1988), who rejected any close relationships between Anisophylleaceae and Rhizophoraceae , placed Anisophylleaceae in the Rosales for the S-type plastids, and Rhizophoraceae in Celastrales for the P-type plastids.

Thorne (1983) placed his Rhizophoraceae s.1. including Anisophylleaceae in the Corniflorae (Cornales).

Takhtajan (1997) established a superorder Rhizophoranae containing the two single-family orders, Anisophylleales and Rhizophorales, suggesting that although immediate relatives, the two families are not very close to each other.

Molecular data and floral structure showed that Anisophylleaceae are closest to the Cucurbitales ( Setoguchi et al. 1999, Schwarzbach & Ricklefs 2000, Matthews et al. 2001, Zhang et al. 2006, 2007, Schaefer & Renner 2011) and modern classifications accept the family as a member of the Cucurbitales ( Angiosperm Phylogeny Group 1998, 2003, 2009).

4 • Phytotaxa 229 (1) © 2015 Magnolia Press

CHEN ET AL.

Taxonomic history of Anisophyllea