Rousseaceae
Abrophyllum ornans
Cuttsia viburnea
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Rousseaceae
Hook.f. ex Benth.
Genera
Synonyms

Carpodetaceae

Rousseaceae is a plant family in the order Asterales containing trees and shrubs. The fruit is a berry or capsule. Leaves are simple, with toothed margins. Leaf stipules are not seen in this group.

The family contains four genera[1] and twelve or thirteen species. From Mauritius, Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand and a few other Pacific Islands. The genera Abrophyllum, Cuttsia and Carpodetus have been formerly placed in a separate family, Carpodetaceae, or within Escalloniaceae.

Taxonomy

Roussea is sister to the remainder of the family and is most distanced from the other genera. Carpodetus is the sister to the clade consisting of Abrophyllum and Cuttsia. This results in the following phylogenetic tree.[2]

order Asterales

family Campanulaceae (± cosmopolitan)

family Rousseaceae
subfamily Rousseoideae

Roussea (Mauritius)

subfamily Carpodetoideae
(eastern Australia)

Carpodetus (New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Zealand)

other Asterales families

References

  1. ^ Floyd, A. G. (2008). Rainforest Trees of Mainland South-eastern Australia (2nd, Revised ed.). Lismore, New South Wales: Terania Rainforest Publishing. p. 326. ISBN 0-958943-67-2. Retrieved 2010-02-20.
  2. ^ Michael Heads (2013). Biogeography of Australasia: A Molecular Analysis. Cambridge University Press.
Categories