Rutaceae

Taxobox
name = Rutaceae

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image_caption = "Skimmia japonica"
regnum = Plantae
unranked_divisio = Angiosperms
unranked_classis = Eudicots
unranked_ordo = Rosids
ordo = Sapindales
familia = Rutaceae
familia_authority = Juss., 1789
subdivision_ranks = Genera
subdivision =About 160, totaling over 1600 species. See List of Rutaceae genera

Rutaceae, commonly known as the Rue or Citrus family, is a family of plants, usually placed in the order Sapindales.

Species of the family generally have flowers that divide into four or five parts, usually with strong scents. They range in form and size from herbs to shrubs and small trees.

The most economically important genus in the family is "Citrus", which includes the orange ("C. sinensis"), lemon ("C." × "limon"), grapefruit ("C. paradisi"), and lime (various, mostly "C. aurantifolia", the key lime). "Boronia" is a large Australian genus, some members of which are plants with highly fragrant flowers and are used in commercial oil production. Other large genera include "Zanthoxylum" and "Agathosma".

Characteristics

Most species are trees or shrubs, a few are herbs ("Boenninghausenia"), frequently aromatic with glands on the leaves, sometimes with thorns. The leaves are usually opposed and compound, and without stipules.

Flowers are bractless, solitary or in cyme, rarely in raceme, and mainly pollinated by insects. They are radially or (rarely) laterally symmetric, and generally hermaphroditic. They have four or five petals and sepals, sometimes three, mostly separate, eight to ten stamen (five in "Skimmia", many in "Citrus"), usually separate on in several groups. Usually a single stigma with 2 to 5 united carpels, sometimes ovaries separate and styles combined.

The fruit of Rutaceae are very variable: berries, drupes, hesperidiums, samara, capsules and follicles all occur. Seed number also varies widely.

Classification

The family is closely related to Sapindaceae, Simaroubaceae and Meliaceae, and all are usually placed into the same order, although some systems separate that order into Rutales and Sapindales. The families Flindersiaceae and Ptaeroxylaceae are sometimes kept separate, but nowadays generally placed in Rutaceae, as are the former Cneoraceae. The subfamilial organization has not been fully resolved, but the subfamilies Citroideae (=Aurantioideae) and Rutoideae are well supported; the placement of several genera remains unclear.

Notable species

The family is of great economic importance under tropical climates for its numerous edible fruits of the "Citrus" genus, such as the orange, lime, kumquat, mandarine and grapefruit. Non-citrus fruits include the White sapote ("Casimiroa edulis") and the bael ("Aegle marmelos"). Other plants are grown in horticulture: "Murraya" species, for example. "Ruta", "Zanthoxylum" and "Casimiroa" species are medicinals. Several plants are also used by the perfume industry, such as the Western Australian "Boronia megastigma".

References

*cite book |last=Singh |first=Gurjaran |title=Plant Systematics: An Integrated Approach |year=2004 |publisher=Science Publishers |location=Enfield, New Hampshire |isbn=1-57808-342-7| pages=pp. 438-440
*cite journal |last=Chase |first=Mark W. |coauthors=Cynthia M. Morton & Jacquelyn A. Kallunki |year=1999 |month=August |title=Phylogenetic relationships of Rutaceae: a cladistic analysis of the subfamilies using evidence from RBC and ATP sequence variation |journal=American Journal of Botany |volume=86 |issue=8 |pages=1191–1199 |url=http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/full/86/8/1191|accessdate=2007-08-30 |doi=10.2307/2656983 |pmid=10449399

External links

*commonscat-inline|Rutaceae