LAURACEAE

LAURACEAE
LAURACEAE
Key Characters:
Magnoliid syndrome
Green twigs, ascending secondaries
Tiny flowers with 2–3 stamen
whorls and flap dehiscence
Fruits with cupules
Cannamomum
Sassafras
magnoliids
monocots
LAURACEAE
current history of the
order Laurales - APG
website
Morphology
Persea
Ocotea
Cannamomum
Beilschmiedia
folded carpel portion
ascidiate base
stamens
Lauraceae - flower development
Ocotea lancifolia, Photo of W. Thomas 10597.
Dispersal, Life Form
Beilschmiedia
and the
resplendant
quetzal
Ethereal/Essential Oils
A cabinet of ethereal oils from the Lauraceae
Cineole from
Laurus nobilis
Cinnamaldehyde,
Linalool from
from
Aniba
Cinnamomum
(Brazilian
(cinnamon)
rosewood)
Safrole from
Sassafras
essential (ethereal) oils: more or less volatile and often
aromatic substances made up of various kinds of terpenes
Terpenes (terpenoids): usually hydrophilic
compounds consisting of an isoprenoid skeleton,
subdivided according to number of carbon atoms
10 = mono
15 = sesqui
20 = di
Isoprene (isoprenoid): a volatile unsaturated
branched chain five-carbon hydrocarbon that is the
basic unit of terpenes
Isoprene, C5 H8.
monoterpenoids: with a base of C10 H16, occur in
essential oils and are made up of one or two isoprene
rings or an open chain of isoprene units;
They are colorless, water-insoluble, volatile, with fragrant
odor.
All of these are also found in the Lauraceae
Swallowtail
butterflies and
Lauraceae
Distribution of Sassafras species, from Nie et al., 2007
Sassafras and its allies:
Phylogeny from Nie et
al., 2007
Mid Eocene
Humid
Equatorial
Forest
Semi-arid
tropical
Arid
Semi-arid
Temperate
Warm
Temperate
Warmer
Temperate
LAURACEAE
Key Characters:
Magnoliid syndrome
Green twigs, ascending
secondaries, leaves clustered
Tiny flowers with 2–3 stamen
whorls and flap dehiscence
Fruits with cupules
Cannamomum
Sassafras
Set Aside
Key Characters:
Magnoliid syndrome
Green twigs, ascending
secondaries, leaves clustered
Tiny flowers with 2–3 stamen
whorls and flap dehiscence
Fruits with cupules
LAURACEAE
Sassafras
madreanneotropical
worldwide
boreotropical
austral
DNA:
17-20
ybp
Persea
americana the avocado
i - morning phase
j - afternoon phase
Persea borbonia - red bay
Ocotea-Nectandra
Lauraceae references:
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/soltislab/FGP_Education/Persea.html
Chanderbali, A.S, van der Werff, H., Renner, S.S. 2001. Phylogeny and historical biogeography of
Lauraceae: Evidence from the chloroplast and nuclear genomes. Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 88: 104-134.
Gottlieb, O. R 1972. Chemosystematics of the Lauraceae. Phytochemistry, 11: 1537- 1570.
The various chemical constituents of the Lauraceae are discussed in relation to the taxonomy of the
family. Although there is a great paucity of data, the variation in the arylpropanoids, alkaloids, flavanoids
and terpene constituents is in general in agreement with the subdivision of the family put forward by
Kostermans.
Qiu, Y.-L. Lee, J., Bernasconi-Quadroni, F., Soltis, D.E., Soltis, P.S., Zanis, M., Zimmer, E.A., Chen, Z.
Savolainen, V. Chase, M.W. 2000. Phylogeny of basal angiosperms: analyses of five genes from three
genomes. Int. J. Plant Sci. 161 (6 Suppl.): S3-S27.
Simić, A., Soković, M. D., Ristić, M., Grujić‐Jovanović, S., Vukojević, J., & Marin, P. D. (2004). The
chemical composition of some Lauraceae essential oils and their antifungal activities. Phytotherapy
Research, 18(9), 713-717.
Soltis, D.E., Soltis, P.S., Albert, V.A., Oppenheimer, D.G, dePamphilis, C.W., Frohlich, M.W., Theißen, G.
2002. Missing links: The genetic arcitecture of the flower and floral diversification. Trends Plant Sci. 7: 2231.