Taxonomy
of Flowering Plants - LECTURE
NOTES - Spring, 1998
Hugh
D. Wilson - rm. 306,
Butler Hall
22 April 1998
Zingiberidae
Elements of the Zingiberidae ( 2 orders, 9 families,
3,800 species) are often associated with order of the Commelinidae and
Liliidae. Cronquist's treatment deals with the fact that these plants
are "discordant" when so treated, i.e., the Bromeliales does not 'fit'
well within the Commelinidae and the Zingiberales are a bit anomalous within
the context of the Liliidae. Excluding both orders from these subclasses
serves to "sharpen" the definition or circumscription of both. It
does, however, create a unit that is not recognized by other
current systems of flowering plant classification.
Synoptical Arrangement of the
Zingiberidae
1. Epiphytes or xerophytes with narrow, parallel-veined
leaves that are often leathery ant not petiolate, stamens 6, flowers usually
actinomorphic.................... Bromeliales
(monotypic)
2. Mesophytes of the forest floor or emergent aquatics
with broadly expanded, petiolate leaves that carry a distinctive pattern
of veination, stamens often 1 or 5 (rarely 6), flowers usually zygomorphic.....................
Zingiberales
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