Rhizophoraceae

Bruguiera cylindrica, photographed by Teo Siyang.

Belongs within: Malpighiales.

The Rhizophoraceae are a pantropical group of trees and shrubs that commonly grow as mangroves, with stilt or prop roots allowing growth in anoxic muds and viviparous seeds germinating to form propagules before the fruit is shed from the parent plant. They bear opposite, often serrate leaves with larger interpetiolar stipules. Flowers have a thick and valvate calyx, and petals are often fringed. Propagules of mangrove species are elongate and javelin-like; after shedding, they become embedded in mud and develop roots. The most widespread genus in the family, Rhizophora, includes species such as the red mangrove R. mangle that often grow in more seaward positions than other associated mangrove species. Bruguiera is a genus of mangroves found in the Indo-Pacific regions. Paradrypetes, a genus found alongside rivers in Brazil, is not a mangrove and has historically been classified in the Euphorbiaceae.

<==Rhizophoraceae [Rhizophoreae]
    |--+--Paradrypetes XR12
    |  `--Rhizophora XR12
    |       |--R. apiculata P88
    |       |--R. mangle XR12
    |       |--R. mucronata KN03
    |       |--R. racemosa C55
    |       `--R. stylosa LK14
    `--+--Carallia XR12
       |    |--C. brachiata LK14
       |    `--C. integerrima H09
       `--Bruguiera XR12
            |--B. caryophylloides H09
            |--B. cylindrica KN03
            |--B. exaristata LK14
            |--B. gymnorhiza [incl. B. rheedi] KN03
            |--B. hainesii H03
            `--B. parviflora LK14

Rhizophoraceae incertae sedis:
  Endosteira T00
  Crossostylis T00
  Blepharistemma YY22
  Kandelia (de Candolle) Wight & Arnott 1834 [=Rhizophora sect. Kandelia de Candolle 1828] SLY03
    |--K. candel (Linnaeus) Druce 1914 (see below for synonymy) SLY03
    `--K. obovata Sheue, Liu & Yong 2003 SLY03
  Ceriops KN03
    |--C. australis LK14
    |--C. candolleana KN03
    `--C. tagal WF01
  Palaeobruguiera elongata Chandler 1961 CBH93
  Zonocostites ramonae CBH93

Kandelia candel (Linnaeus) Druce 1914 [=Rhizophora candel Linnaeus 1753, *K. rheedii Wight & Arnott 1834 (nom. illeg.)] SLY03

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[C55] Candolle, A. de. 1855. Géographie Botanique Raisonée: Ou exposition des faits principaux et des lois concernant la distribution géographique des plantes de l’époque actuelle vol. 2. Librairie de Victor Masson: Paris.

[CBH93] Collinson, M. E., M. C. Boulter & P. L. Holmes. 1993. Magnoliophyta (‘Angiospermae’). In: Benton, M. J. (ed.) The Fossil Record 2 pp. 809–841. Chapman & Hall: London.

[H03] Heads, M. 2003. Ericaceae in Malesia: vicariance biogeography, terrane tectonics and ecology. Telopea 10 (1): 311–449.

[H09] Hedley, C. 1909. The Marine Fauna of Queensland: Address by the President of Section D. Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science: Brisbane.

[KN03] Komai, F., & Y. Nasu. 2003. Four species of Olethreutinae (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) associated with viviparous seedlings of the mangrove Rhizophoraceae in the Ryukyu Islands, Japan. Invertebrate Systematics 17: 75–87.

[LK14] Lyons, M. N., G. J. Keighery, L. A. Gibson & T. Handasyde. 2014. Flora and vegetation communities of selected islands off the Kimberley coast of Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum Supplement 81: 205–244.

[P88] Polunin, I. 1988. Plants and Flowers of Malaysia. Times Editions: Singapore.

[SLY03] Sheue, C.-R., H.-Y. Liu & J. W. H. Yong. 2003. Kandelia obovata (Rhizophoraceae), a new mangrove species from eastern Asia. Taxon 52: 287–294.

[T00] Thorne, R. F. 2000. The classification and geography of the flowering plants: dicotyledons of the class Angiospermae (subclasses Magnoliidae, Ranunculidae, Caryophyllidae, Dilleniidae, Rosidae, Asteridae, and Lamiidae). The Botanical Review 66: 441–647.

[WF01] Woinarski, J. C. Z., A. Fisher, K. Brennan, I. Morris & R. Chatto. 2001. Patterns of bird species richness and composition on islands off Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. Austral Ecology 26: 1–13.

[XR12] Xi, Z., B. R. Ruhfel, H. Schaefer, A. M. Amorim, M. Sugumaran, K. J. Wurdack, P. K. Endress, M. L. Matthews, P. F. Stevens, S. Mathews & C. C. Davis. 2012. Phylogenomics and a posteriori data partitioning resolve the Cretaceous angiosperm radiation Malpighiales. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 109 (43): 17519–17524.

[YY22] Yampolsky, C., & H. Yampolsky. 1922. Distribution of sex forms in the phanerogamic flora. Bibliotheca Genetica 3: 1–62.

Last updated: 25 June 2021.