1. Basal Eudicots: Ranunculales and Proteales
Spring 2010

2. Figure 9.1 from the text

3. Eudicots (tricolpates)
Monophyletic: tricolpate pollen, slender filaments in stamens, and loss of ethereal oils
Ca. 125 million years old as a lineage
Ca. 75% of angiosperm diversity (at least 160,000 species)
Flower parts in whorls, with whorls alternating

4. Figure 9.3 from the text

5. Basal and lower core eudicots
Order Ranunculales
Ranunculaceae – Buttercups
Berberidaceae - Barberries
Papaveraceae - Poppies
Order Proteales
Platanaceae - Sycamore
Order Caryophyllales
Caryophyllaceae - Carnations
Amaranthaceae - Amaranths
“Portulacaceae” -
Cactaceae - Cacti
Order Saxifragales
Crassulaceae
Saxifragaceae
Hamamelidaceae
Basal
tricolpates

6. Basal Eudicots: Ranunculales: Ranunculaceae (The Buttercup Family)
Widespread, but predominantly of temperate and boreal regions
Herbs or less often shrubs or vines
Diversity: 2,000 in 47 genera
Flowers: receptacle short to elongated; tepals 4 to many; stamens numerous; 5+ free carpels; fruit usually an aggregate of follicles or achenes
Significant features: wide range of floral diversity and pollination syndromes, toothed or lobed leaves
Special uses: primarily ornamentals
Required taxa: Ranunculus, Aquilegia

7. Ranunculaceae
flower structure

8. Ranunculaceae – Ranunculus
-cauline leaves alternate
-flowers usually yellow
(rarely white)
-petals (3-) 5 or more
-petals flat or concave,
often with a nectar-
producing spot or pit
at the base
-fruit an aggregate of achenes
Buttercups

9. Ranunculaceae – Aquilegia
Columbines
-herbs with 2-3-
ternately compound
leaves
-sepals 5, colored like
the petals
-petals 5, all alike, each
with a nectar spur
-fruit an aggregate of
follicles

10. Basal Eudicots: Ranunculales: Berberidaceae (The Barberry Family)
Widespread, in temperate regions of Northern Hemisphere & the Andes in South America
Shrubs or herbs
Diversity: 670 species in 15 genera
Flowers: petals & sepals (4-) 6; stamens 4-6 (to numerous); unicarpellate, superior ovary; fruit a berry, seeds often arillate
Significant features: Yellow wood (!).
Special uses: primarily ornamentals
Required taxa: *family only
*change from lab manual

11. Berberidaceae Podophyllum peltatum

12. Basal Eudicots: Ranunculales: Papaveraceae (The Poppy Family)
Widely distributed in temperate regions; N. Hemisphere, South Africa.
Herbs or soft wooded shrubs.
Diversity: 770 species in 40 genera.
Flowers: Sepals 2 (-3) & quickly deciduous; petals 4 (6); carpels 2+, connate, superior ovary; fruit a capsule (poricidal or slits)
Significant features: Leaves often highly dissected or lobed; latex/laticifers present; most taxa are poisonous
Special uses: poppy (Papaver somniferum) source of opiate alkaloids, ornamentals
Required taxa: Papaver (poppy)

13. Papaveraceae - Papaver
-herbs with white latex
-flower buds nodding
-sepals 2, petals 4
-stigmas forming a flat,
4-20-rayed crown
-capsule with poricidal
dehiscence

14. Basal Eudicots: Proteales: Platanaceae (The Sycamore Family)
Tropical to temperate regions, N. America, S. Europe, SW & SE Asia
Trees
Diversity: 7 species in 1 genus
Flowers: densely arranged in a raceme of globose heads; flowers small, unisexual, inconspicuous, wind-pollinated; fruits are achenes associated with hairs in dense, globose clusters
Significant features: characteristic bark; leaves usually with palmate venation; axillary buds covered by an enlarged petiole base
Special uses: ornamental trees, lumber
Required taxa: Platanus (sycamore/plane tree)

15. Platanaceae – Platanus occidentalis