9. Turneraceae Kunth ex de Candolle
Turnera Family Turnera Family
María Mercedes Arbo
Herbs, subshrubs, or shrubs [trees], perennial, often rhizomatous. Stems usually branched, hairs simple and/or porrect-stellate [stellate] and, sometimes, glandular hairs. Leaves alternate, sessile or petiolate; stipules present or absent; blade margins crenate or serrate filiform; stigmas 3, penicillate. Fruits capsular, 3-valved, dehiscence loculicidal. Seeds obovoid, straight or curved; aril inserted around hilum, lobed, plump, membranous when dry; endosperm fleshy; embryo straight.
Genera 10, species 226 (2 genera, 4 species in the flora): sc, se United States, Mexico, West Indies, Central America, South America, Africa, Indian Ocean Islands (Madagascar, Mascarene Islands).
The close relationships of Turneraceae with Passifloraceae, Malesherbiaceae, and Violaceae have long been recognized, especially by the presence of cyclopentenoid cyanogenic glycosides and cyclopentenyl fatty acids. These families have traditionally been positioned in Parietales or Violales with other taxa that have parietal placentation; analyses of DNA sequence data indicate that only a subset of the taxa with parietal placentation are closely related. The group that includes Turneraceae is embedded within Malpighiales (V. Savolainen et al. 2000b; D. E. Soltis et al. 2000; O. I. Nandi et al. 1998; M. W. Chase et al. 2002).
SELECTED REFERENCES Brizicky, G. K. 1961. The genera of Turneraceae and Passifloraceae in the southeastern United States. J. Arnold Arbor. 42: 204–218. Urban, I. 1883. Monographie der Familie der Turneraceen. Jahrb. Königl. Bot. Gart. Berlin 2: 81–148.
