Rutaceae

Spurge olive Cneorum tricoccum, copyright Cillas.

Belongs within: Sapindales.
Contains: Zanthoxyleae, Citroideae.

The Rutaceae are a family of plants found in most parts of the world; most are trees or shrubs but some are herbaceous. These include the common rue Ruta graveolens, a strong-smelling herb with a history of being cultivated as a medicinal plant and condiment. Within the Rutaceae, members of the Rutoideae and Citroideae have numerous aromatic oil glands in many parts of the plant; members of the Spathelioideae, in contrast, lack such glands and have solitary oil cells (Angiosperm Phylogeny Website). Rutoideae and Citroideae have been separated on the basis of characters of the fruit (generally dehiscent in Rutoideae, but indehiscent and fleshy in Citroideae), but phylogenetic analysis does not support monophyly of the Rutoideae. The southern African sneezewood tree Ptaeroxylon obliquum, together with the Madagascan tree and shrub genus Cedrelopsis, was previously classified as a separate family Ptaeroxylaceae but now appears to be derived within the Spathelioideae. The vernacular name "sneezewood" refers to the presence of oils in the wood that cause respiratory irritation to workers. Also now placed within Spathelioideae is Cneorum, a primarily Mediterranean genus of small shrubs with leathery leaves, mostly found at higher altitudes.

Characters (from the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website): Herbs to trees; furanocoumarins, distinctive limonoids present; wood often fluorescing; stomata various; schizogenous cavities present; leaflets usually articulated, ptyxis also flat, margins entire to crenate (sometimes serrate), usually prominently punctate; flowers often perfect; (3-)5-merous; calyx connate or free; androecium obdiplostemonous, filaments more or less flattened (occasionally connate); gynoecium variously connate to almost free, style impressed to more or less gynobasic; ovules 1-many/carpel, micropyle also zig-zag; chalazal embryo sac haustoria present; seed with chalazal aperture in the sclerotesta at base or raphe.

<==Rutaceae
    |--Rutoideae [Flindersieae, Flindersioideae, Ruteae] MS06
    |    |  i. s.: Luvunga monophylla T00, LK14
    |    |--Zanthoxyleae MS06
    |    `--+--Citroideae MS06
    |       `--+--Chloroxylon swietenia MS06
    |          `--Ruta [Rutinae] MS06
    |               |--R. chalepensis H93
    |               `--R. graveolens MS06
    `--Spathelioideae T00
         |  i. s.: Dictyloma T00
         |--Spathelia [Spathelieae] MS06
         |    `--S. excelsa MS06
         `--+--Harrisonia MS06
            |    |--H. brownii LK14
            |    `--H. perforata MS06
            `--+--Cneorum [Cneoraceae] MS06
               |    |--C. pulverulentum MS06
               |    `--C. tricoccum C74
               `--Ptaeroxylaceae T00
                    |--Cedrelopsis T00
                    `--Ptaeroxylon obliquum MS06

Rutaceae incertae sedis:
  Fraxinella D01
  Monnieria D01
  Pitavia YY22
  Toddaliopsis YY22
  Vepris dainellii YY22, E09
  Empleurum YY22
  Acronichia YY22
  Boninia YY22
  Helietta YY22
  Ptelea YY22
    |--P. crenulata H93
    `--P. trifoliata P93
  Araliopsis YY22
  Empleuridium YY22
  Orixa japonica YY22, S00
  Teclea YY22
    |--T. nobilis E09
    `--T. viridis QLB05
  Fagara YY22
  Barosma YY22
  Amyris J87
    |--A. apiculata J87
    `--A. marshii FZ77
  Philotheca [incl. Eriostemon sect. Nigrostipulae] M93
    |--P. australis H87
    |--P. basistyla Mollemans 1993 M93
    |--P. brucei G04a
    |--P. langei Mollemans 1993 M93
    |--P. myoporoides [=Eriostemon myoporoides] B00
    |--P. spicatum RL05
    `--P. tomentella G04a
  Microcybe G04b
    |--M. albiflora G04b
    `--M. pauciflora G04b
         |--M. p. ssp. pauciflora G04b
         `--M. p. ssp. grandis G04b
  Drummondita M93
    |--D. calida M93
    |--D. ericoides M93
    |--D. hassellii M93
    |    |--D. h. var. hassellii M93
    |    `--D. h. var. longifolia M93
    |--D. miniata M93
    `--D. wilsonii Mollemans 1993 M93
  Halfordia B00
    |--H. kendack B00
    `--H. scleroxyla H42
  Geijera MM09
    |--G. linearifolia G76
    |--G. paniculata B00
    |--G. parviflora MM09
    `--G. salicifolia B00
         |--G. s. var. salicifolia S91
         `--G. s. var. latifolia S91
  Geleznowia verrucosa MM09
  Brombya platynema BH07
  Boenninghausenia albiflora D07
  Tetradium Lour. 1790 KC01
    `--T. fraxinifolium D07
  Murraya LK14
    |--M. koenigii HU08
    |--M. ovatifoliolata B00
    `--M. paniculata LK14
  Naringi crenulata P03
  Rhadinothamnus rudis GM10
  Micromelum minutum LK14
  Acronychia B00
    |--A. acidula BH07
    `--A. vestita B00
  Dinosperma B00
    |--D. erythrococca [=Melicope erythrococca] B00
    `--D. melanophloia [=Melicope melanophloia] B00
  Leionema B00
    |--L. ambiens [=Phebalium ambiens] B00
    `--L. dentatum B00
  Bosistoa B00
    |--B. brassii S91
    `--B. medicinalis B00
  Cneoridium dumosum H93
  Thamnosma montana H93
  Evodioxylon oweni (Carruthers) Chiarugi 1933 CBH93
  Fortunella japonica WO92
  Almeidaea Post & Kuntze 1903 KC01
  Benjaminia Vell. 1835 KC01
  Tenorea Rafin. 1814 KC01
  Microcitrus S91
    |--M. garrawayae S91
    `--M. inodora S91
  Acradenia euodiiformis S91
  Euodia S91
    |--E. haplophylla WO95
    |--E. micrococca S91
    `--E. vitiflora S91
  Evodiella muelleri S91

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

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[C74] Coineau, Y. 1974. Éléments pour une monographie morphologique, écologique et biologique des Caeculidae (Acariens). Mémoires du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle, nouvelle série, Série A, Zoologie 81: 1–299, 24 pls.

[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.

[D07] Dash, S. S. 2007. Useful plants of Kabi Sacred Grove, Sikkim. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 49: 79–88.

[D01] Doweld, A. B. 2001. The systematic relevance of fruit and seed structure in Bersama and Melianthus (Melianthaceae). Plant Systematics and Evolution 227: 75–103.

[E09] Ensermu K. 2009. Three new species of Acanthaceae from Ethiopia. Kew Bulletin 64 (1): 57–65.

[FZ77] Fullington, R. W., & E. G. Zimmerman. 1977. A new species of Humboldtiana (Helminthoglyptidae) from Coahuila, Mexico. Veliger 20 (2): 134–136.

[G04a] Gibson, N. 2004a. Flora and vegetation of the Eastern Goldfields Ranges: part 6. Mt Manning Range. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 87 (2): 35–47.

[G04b] Gibson, N. 2004b. Flora and vegetation of the Eastern Goldfields Ranges: part 7. Middle and South Ironcap, Digger Rock and Hatter Hill. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 87 (2): 49–62.

[G76] Gross, G. F. 1976. Plant-feeding and Other Bugs (Hemiptera) of South Australia. Heteroptera—Part II. Handbook of the Flora and Fauna of South Australia.

[GM10] Guilbert, E., & M. L. Moir. 2010. A new species of Carldrakeana (Insecta: Heteroptera: Tingidae) from Western Australia. Records of the Western Australian Museum 25 (4): 382–386.

[H87] Haviland, E. 1887. Flowering seasons of Australian plants. No. I—List of plants indigenous in the neighbourhood of Sydney, flowering during July. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, series 2, 1 (4): 1049–1051.

[H93] Hickman, J. C. (ed.) 1993. The Jepson Manual: Higher Plants of California. University of California Press: Berkeley (California).

[H42] Hill, G. F. 1942. Termites (Isoptera) from the Australian Region (including Australia, New Guinea and islands south of the Equator between 140°E. longitude and 170°W. longitude). Commonwealth of Australia Council for Scientific and Industrial Research: Melbourne.

[HU08] Hore, U., & V. P. Uniyal. 2008. Diversity and composition of spider assemblages in five vegetation types of the Terai Conservation Area, India. Journal of Arachnology 36 (2): 251–258.

[J87] Judd, W. S. 1987. Floristic study of Morne La Visite and Pic Macaya National Parks, Haiti. Bulletin of the Florida State Museum—Biological Sciences 32 (1): 1–136.

[KC01] Kirk, P. M., P. F. Cannon, J. C. David & J. A. Stalpers. 2001. Ainsworth & Bisby's Dictionary of the Fungi 9^th ed. CAB International: Wallingford (UK).

[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.

[M93] Mollemans, F. H. 1993. Drummondita wilsonii, Philotheca langei and P. basistyla (Rutaceae), new species from south-west Western Australia. Nuytsia 9: 95–109.

[MM09] Mound, L. A., & M. Masumoto. 2009. Australian Thripinae of the Anaphothrips genus-group (Thysanoptera), with three new genera and thirty-three new species. Zootaxa 2042: 1–76.

[MS06] Muellner, A. N., V. Savolainen, R. Samuel & M. W. Chase. 2006. The mahogany family "out-of-Africa": divergence time estimation, global biogeographic patterns inferred from plastid rbcL DNA sequences, extant, and fossil distribution of diversity. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 40 (1): 236–250.

[P03] Paul, T. K. 2003. Botanical observations on the Purulia pumped storage hydropower project area, Bagmundi Hills, Purulia district, West Bengal. Bulletin of the Botanical Survey of India 45: 121–142.

[P93] Pittaway, A. R. 1993. The Hawkmoths of the Western Palaearctic. Harley Books: Colchester.

[QLB05] Quicke, D. L. J., N. M. Laurenne & M. Barclay. 2005. A new host record for the Afrotropical parasitic wasp genus Bathyaulax Szépligeti (Hymenoptera: Braconidae: Braconinae) confirmed using DNA sequence data. Journal of Hymenoptera Research 14 (1): 96–101.

[RL05] Rafferty, C., & B. B. Lamont. 2005. Selective feeding by macropods on vegetation regenerating following fire. Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 88 (4): 155–165.

[S91] Sankowsky, G. 1991. New food plants for some Queensland butterflies. Australian Entomological Magazine 18 (1): 9–19.

[S00] Siddiqi, M. R. 2000. Tylenchida: Parasites of plants and insects 2^nd ed. CABI Publishing: Wallingford (UK).

[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.

[WO92] Walter, D. E., & D. J. O'Dowd. 1992. Leaves with domatia have more mites. Ecology 73 (4): 1514–1518.

[WO95] Walter, D. E., & D. J. O'Dowd. 1995. Beneath biodiversity: factors influencing the diversity and abundance of canopy mites. Selbyana 16 (1): 12–20.

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

Last updated: 8 August 2021.