Hippocastanaceae

Taxobox
name = Hippocastanaceae

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image_caption = "Aesculus × carnea" in flower.
regnum = Plantae
unranked_divisio = Angiosperms
unranked_classis = Eudicots
unranked_ordo = Rosids
ordo = Sapindales
familia = Hippocastanaceae
familia_authority = DC.
subdivision_ranks = Genera
subdivision = "Aesculus" "Billia" "Handeliodendron"

Hippocastanaceae is the name given to a small group of trees and shrubs, when this group is treated as a familiy. Its most widespread genus is "Aesculus" (the horse-chestnuts and buckeyes, syn. "Pavia"). However, the American genus "Billia" and the Chinese genus "Handeliodendron" are also sometimes included in this family. A feature of the family is the palmate compound leaves. [ [http://delta-intkey.com/angio/www/hippocas.htm Hippocastanaceae] in L.Watson and M.J.Dallwitz. 1992 onwards. The families of flowering plants.]

Members of this family are closely related to the large, mostly tropical family Sapindaceae, and some systems of plant taxonomy include the members of the Hippocastanaceae, along with members of the Aceraceae, in an enlarged family Sapindaceae.Recent molecular phylogenetic research (Harrington et al. 2005 [Harrington, M. G., Edwards, K. J., Johnson, S. A., Chase, M. W., & Gadek, P. A. (2005). Phylogenetic inference in Sapindaceae sensu lato using plastid matK and rbcL DNA sequences. "Systematic Botany" 30: 366-382. [http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/aspt/sb/2005/00000030/00000002/art00012 Abstract] .] ) has shown that while both Aceraceae and Hippocastanaceae are monophyletic in themselves, their removal from Sapindaceae "sensu lato" would leave Sapindaceae "sensu stricto" as a paraphyletic group, particularly with reference to the genus "Xanthoceras". Therefore it is now usually synonymized with subfamily Hippocastanoideae.

References