Tiliaceae

Tiliaceae is a botanical name for a family of flowering plants. Such a family is not part of APG II, but it is found all through the botanical literature and remains prominently listed by nomenclatural databases such as "IPNI".

All through its existence the family has had a very lively history, with various authors taking very different views on what should be part of this family. As a result it is recommended when this name is encountered to be careful to check what an author means when he uses this name.

However, in the northern temperate regions the name is unambiguous as the only representative is "Tilia", the lime or linden.

Tiliaceae in the de Candolle system

In the de Candolle system the of the family was:
* family Tiliaceae
*: genus I. "Sparmannia" [sic: now "Sparrmannia"]
*: genus II? "Abatia"
*: genus III. "Heliocarpus"
*: genus IV. "Antichorus"
*: genus V. "Corchorus"
*: genus VI. "Honckenya" [sic, see "Clappertonia"]
*: genus VII. "Triumfetta"
*: genus VIII. "Grewia"
*: genus IX. "Columbia" [sic, now "Colona"]
*: genus X. "Tilia"
*: genus XI. "Diplophractum"
*: genus XII. "Muntingia"
*: genus XIII. "Apeiba"
*: genus XIV. "Sloanea"
*: genus XV. "Ablania"
*: genus XIV. "Gyrostemon"
*: genus XVII. "Christiana"
*: genus XVIII. "Alegria"
*: genus XIX. "Luhea" [sic, now: "Luehea"]
*: genus XX. "Vatica"
*: genus XXI. "Espera"
*: genus XXII. "Wikstroemia"
*: genus XXIII. "Berrya"

According to APG II system, the current placement of these genera is mostly in the 'new' Malvaceae sensu lato, but with "Gyrostemon" moved to family Gyrostemonaceae, "Muntingia" to family Muntingiaceae, "Sloanea" to family Elaeocarpaceae, "Vatica" to family Dipterocarpaceae and "Wikstroemia" to family Thymelaeaceae (possibly reduced to a synonym of "Daphne"). The genus "Abatia" is assigned to the 'new' family Salicaceae sensu lato.

Bentham & Hooker system

The family reached perhaps its widest in the Bentham & Hooker system:
* family XXXIII Tiliaceae
*: series A. Holopetalae
*:: tribus I. Brownlowieae
*::: genus 1. "Brownlowia"
*::: genus 2. "Pentace"
*::: genus 3. "Diplodiscus"
*::: genus 4. "Pityranthe"
*::: genus 5. "Christiana"
*::: genus 6. "Berrya"
*::: genus 7. "Carpodiptera"
*:: tribus II. Grewieae
*::: genus 8. "Grewia"
*::: genus 9. "Columbia" [sic, now "Colona"]
*::: genus 10. "Diplophractum"
*::: genus 11. "Belotia"
*::: genus 12. "Erinocarpus"
*::: genus 13. "Triumfetta"
*::: genus 14. "Heliocarpus"
*:: tribus III. Tilieae
*::: genus 15. "Entelea"
*::: genus 16. "Sparmannia"
*::: genus 17. "Honckenya" [sic, see "Clappertonia"]
*::: genus 18. "Corchorus"
*::: genus 19. "Corchoropsis"
*::: genus 20. "Luehea"
*::: genus 21. "Mollia"
*::: genus 22. "Trichospermum"
*::: genus 23. "Muntingia"
*::: genus 24. "Tilia"
*::: genus 25. "Leptonychia"
*::: genus 26. "Schoutenia"
*:: tribus IV. Apeibeae
*::: genus 27. "Glypilea"
*::: genus 28. "Apeiba"
*: series B. Heteropetalae
*:: tribus V. Prockieae
*::: genus 29. "Prockia"
*::: genus 30. "Hasseltia"
*::: genus 31. "Plagiopteron"
*::: genus 32? "Ropalocarpus"
*:: tribus VI. Sloanieae
*::: genus 33. "Vallea"
*::: genus 34. "Sloanea"
*::: genus 35. "Echinocarpus"
*::: genus 36. "Antholoma"
*:: tribus VII. Elaeocarpeae
*::: genus 37. "Aristotelia"
*::: genus 38. "Elaeocarpus"
*::: genus 39. "Dubouzetia"
*::: genus 40. "Tricuspidaria"

According to APG II system, the current placement of these genera is perhaps mostly in the 'new' Malvaceae sensu lato, but with "Muntingia" moved to family Muntingiaceae, while tribes VI and VII form the core of family Elaeocarpaceae and tribe V has been moved to the 'new' family Salicaceae sensu lato.

The Hutchinson system follows the Bentham & Hooker system rather closely.

Cronquist system

In the Cronquist system (1981) the family includes some fifty genera, totalling around seven hundred species of trees and shrubs, rarely herbs, with a subcosmopolitan distribution. It may be separated from Malvaceae sensu stricto by the smooth surface of the pollen grains, bilocular anthers, and the stamens free or in bundles (but not monadelphous)

*"Ancistrocarpus" Oliv.
*"Apeiba" Aubl.
*"Asterophorum" Sprague
*"Berrya" Roxb.
*"Brownlowia" Roxb.
*"Burretiodendron" Rehder
*"Carpodiptera" Griseb.
*"Christiana" DC.
*"Clappertonia" Meisn.
*"Colona" Cav.
*"Corchoropsis" Siebold & Zucc.
*"Corchorus" L.
*"Craigia" W.W.Sm. & W.E.Evans
*"Desplatsia" Bocq.
*"Dicraspidia" Standl.
*"Diplodiscus" Turcz.
*"Duboscia" Bocquet
*"Eleutherostylis" Burret
*"Entelea" R.Br.
*"Erinocarpus" Nimmo ex J.Graham
*"Glyphaea" Hook.f.
*"Goethalsia" Pittier
*"Grewia" L.
*"Hainania" Merr.
*"Heliocarpus" L.
*"Hydrogaster" Kuhlm.
*"Jarandersonia" Kosterm.
*"Luehea" Willd.
*"Lueheopsis" Burret
*"Microcos" L.
*"Mollia" Mart.
*"Mortoniodendron" Standl. & Steyerm.
*"Neotessmannia" Burret
*"Pentace" Hassk.
*"Pentaplaris" L.O.Williams & Standl.
*"Petenaea" Lundell
*"Pityranthe" Thwaites
*"Pseudocorchorus" Capuron
*"Schoutenia" Korth.
*"Sicrea" (Pierre) Hallier f.
*"Sparrmannia" L.f.
*"Tetralix" Griseb.
*"Tilia" L.
*"Trichospermum" Blume
*"Triumfetta" L.
*"Vasivaea" Baill.
*"Westphalina" A.Robyns & Bamps

APG II system

The APG II system, does not recognise this as a family but submerges it in the Malvaceae sensu lato, which unites the four families Bombacaceae, Malvaceae sensu stricto, Sterculiaceae and Tiliaceae. Modern botanical taxonomy, such as the relevant volume in the Kubitzki series which conforms to APG, treats most of the plants that traditionally constitute the family (see above) in the subfamilies Tilioideae, Brownlowioideae, and Grewioideae within this extended family Malvaceae sensu lato. Cladistically, the traditional family Tiliaceae is polyphyletic.

External links

* [http://delta-intkey.com/angio/www/tiliacea.htm Tiliaceae] in [http://delta-intkey.com/angio/ L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz] (1992 onwards) "The families of flowering plants: descriptions".