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Information about Asterales

Asterales
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Helianthus annuus

Helianthus annuus
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Plantae
Division:Magnoliophyta
Class:Magnoliopsida
Order:Asterales Lindl. (1833)
Families


The Asterales are an order of dicotyledonous flowering plants which include the composite family Asteraceae (sunflowers, daisies, thistles etc.) and its related families.

The order is cosmopolitic, and includes mostly herbaceous species, although a small number of trees (Lobelia) and shrubs is also present.

The Asterales can be characterized on the morphological and molecular level. Synapomorphies include the oligosaccharide inulin as the nutrients storage, and the stamens are usually aggregated densely around the style or even are fused into a tube around it. The last property is probably associated with the plunger (or secondary) pollination, which is common among the families of the order.

Families

The Asterales include about eleven families, the largest of which is Asteraceae with about 25,000 species, and Campanulaceae with about 2,000 species. The remaining families count together for less than 500 species. The two large families are cosmopolitic with center of mass in the northern hemisphere, and the smaller ones are usually confined to Australia and the adjacent areas, or sometimes South America.

Under the Cronquist system, Asteraceae was the only family in the group, but newer systems (e. g. APG II) have expanded it.

Evolution and biogeography

The Asterales order probably originated in the Cretaceous on the supercontinent Gondwana, in the area which is now Australia and Asia. Although most extant species are herbaceous, the examination of the basal families in the order suggests that the common ancestor of the order was an arborescent plant.

Fossil evidence of the Asterales is rare and belongs to rather recent epochs, so the precise estimation of the order's age is quite difficult. An Oligocene pollen is known for Asteraceae and Goodeniaceae, and seeds from Oligocene and Miocene are known for Menyanthaceae and Campanulaceae respectively.

(Bremer and Gustafsson, 1997)

Economical importance

The Asteraceae include some species grown for food, e. g. sunflower (Helianthus annuus) or chicory (Cichorium). Many spices and medicinal herbs are also present.

Of horticultural importance are the Asteraceae (e. g. chrysanthemum) and Campanulaceae.

References

  • K. Bremer, M. H. G. Gustafsson (1997). East Gondwana ancestry of the sunflower alliance of families. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences U.S.A. 94, 9188-9190. (Available online: Abstract | Full text (HTML) | Full text (PDF))
  • W. S. Judd, C. S. Campbell, E. A. Kellogg, P. F. Stevens, M. J. Donoghue (2002). Plant Systematics: A Phylogenetic Approach, 2nd edition. pp. 476-486 (Asterales). Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts. ISBN 0-87893-403-0.
  • J. Lindley (1833). Nixus Plantarum, 20. Londini.
  • Smissen, R. D. (December 2002). Asterales (Sunflower). In: Nature Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. Nature Publishing Group, London. (Available online: DOI | ELS site)
Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. Scientific classification also can be called scientific taxonomy, but should be distinguished from folk taxonomy, which lacks scientific basis.
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Plantae
Haeckel, 1866[1]

Divisions

Green algae
  • Chlorophyta
  • Charophyta
Land plants (embryophytes)
  • Non-vascular land plants (bryophytes)

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Magnoliophyta

Classes

Magnoliopsida - Dicots
Liliopsida - Monocots

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of land plants. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms comprise the two extant groups of seed plants.
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Magnoliopsida

Magnoliopsida is the botanical name for a class of flowering plants. By definition the class will include the family Magnoliaceae, but its can otherwise vary, being more inclusive or less inclusive depending upon the classification system being
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John Lindley (February 8, 1799 - November 1, 1865) was an English botanist.

Lindley was born at Catton, near Norwich, where his father, George Lindley, author of A Guide to the Orchard and Kitchen Garden, owned a nursery garden.
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18th century - 19th century - 20th century
1800s  1810s  1820s  - 1830s -  1840s  1850s  1860s
1830 1831 1832 - 1833 - 1834 1835 1836

:
Subjects:     Archaeology - Architecture -
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family (Latin: familia, plural familiae) is a rank, or a taxon in that rank. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Code which applies.
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Alseuosmiaceae
Airy Shaw

Type genus
Alseuosmia
A. Cunn.

Genera

There are 3 genera:
Alseuosmia
Crispiloba
Wittsteinia

Alseuosmiaceae
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Argophyllaceae

Genera
  • Argophyllum
  • Corokia


The family Argophyllaceae is a group of plant belonging to the order Asterales. They are found in Australia.
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biology:
  • African Daisy, many species in several genera native to Africa
  • Common Daisy, Bellis species, particularly Bellis perennis
  • Michaelmas Daisy, Aster (flower) species
  • Painted Daisy, Pyrethrum Daisy, Tanacetum species

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Calyceraceae
R. Brown ex Richard

Calyceraceae is a plant family in the order Asterales.

The members of the family have simple, alternate leaves and flowers arranged in heads. The flowers have 5 fused petals.
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Campanulaceae
Juss.

Genera

See text.

The family Campanulaceae (also bellflower family), of the order Asterales, contains about 70 genera and 2000 species.
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Lobeliaceae

Genera
  • Lobelia
  • Monopsis
  • Trimeris
  • Pratia
  • Hypsela
  • Isotoma


The Lobeliaceae or Lobelia family
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The term Bellflower can refer to:
  • The city of Bellflower, California.
  • The city of Bellflower, Illinois.
  • Numerous flowering Bellflower plants, classified in the genera Campanula, Campanulastrum, Codonopsis, and Platycodon.

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Goodeniaceae
R. Br. corr. Dumort.

Genera

12; see text.

The family Goodeniaceae is distributed mostly in Australia, except for the genus Scaevola which is pantropical.
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Brunoniaceae
Dumort.

Genera
  • Brunonia


Brunoniaceae is a family of plants included in the Cronquist system's classification scheme.
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Menyanthaceae
Bercht. & J.Presl 1823

Genera
  • Liparophyllum
  • Menyanthes (bog bean, buckbean)
  • Nephrophyllidium (deer cabbage)
  • Nymphoides (floating heart, water snowflake)
  • Villarsia

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Phellinaceae
(Loes.) Takht

Genus: Phelline
Labill.

Species

There are 12 species:
Phelline billardieri
Phelline comosa
Phelline confertifolia
Phelline lucida
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Stylidiaceae
R. Br.

Subfamilies and Genera
  • Stylidioideae
  • Forstera
  • Levenhookia
  • Oreostylidium

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Stylidiaceae
R. Br.

Subfamilies and Genera
  • Stylidioideae
  • Forstera
  • Levenhookia
  • Oreostylidium

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order (Latin: ordo, plural ordines) is a rank between class and family (termed a taxon at that rank). The superorder is a rank between class and order. Exact details of formal nomenclature depend on the Nomenclature Code which applies.
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Magnoliopsida
Brongniart

Orders

See text.
Dicotyledons, or "dicots", is a name for a group of flowering plants whose seed typically contains two embryonic leaves or cotyledons.
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Magnoliophyta

Classes

Magnoliopsida - Dicots
Liliopsida - Monocots

The flowering plants or angiosperms are the most widespread group of land plants. The flowering plants and the gymnosperms comprise the two extant groups of seed plants.
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H. annuus

Binomial name
Helianthus annuus
L.

The sunflower (Helianthus annuus
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Bellis
L.

Species
See text

Bellis is a small genus of 10-15 species of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, native to Europe and the Mediterranean region.
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Thistle is the common name of a polyphyletic group of flowering plants characterised by leaves with sharp spines or prickles on the margins, mostly in the plant family Asteraceae. Their prickles often occur all over the plant, including on the stem and flat parts of the leaf.
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An oligosaccharide is a saccharide polymer containing a small number (typically three to ten[1]) of component sugars, also known as simple sugars.

They are generally found either O- or N
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