Nyssaceae

Nyssaceae
Davidia inflorescences
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Cornales
Family:	Nyssaceae
Genera
See text

Nyssaceae is a small family of flowering trees closely related to and often included within the dogwood family (Cornaceae). Nyssaceae commonly includes the following genera^[1][2]:

• Nyssa, the tupelos: about 7-10 species in eastern North America and East to Southeast Asia
• Camptotheca, the happy trees: two species in China
• Davidia, the dove tree, handkerchief tree, or ghost tree: one species in central China
• Diplopanax: two species in southern China and Vietnam
• Mastixia: about nineteen species in Southeast Asia

At least one other extinct genus Mastixicarpum, very similar to Diplopanax, is known from fossil evidence.

In some treatments, Davidia is split off into its own family, the Davidiaceae. Diplopanax and Mastixia are also sometimes separated into the family Mastixiaceae.^[2] The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group currently (2009) includes the genera of Nyssaceae within Cornaceae,^[3] but this classification remains unstable.

References

1. ^ Averyanov, L. V. & Hiep, N. T. (2002). Diplopanax vietnamensis, a New Species of Nyssaceae from Vietnam – One More Living Representative of the Tertiary Flora of Eurasia. Novon 12: 433-436. Available online (pdf)
2. ^ ^{a b} Fan, C. Z., and Xiang, Q. Y. (2003). Phylogenetic analyses of Cornales based on 26S rRNA and combined 26S rDNA-matK-rbcL sequence data. American Journal of Botany 90, 1357-1372.
3. ^ APG III (2009). An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III. Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 161, 105-121.