Poales

Feathered yellow-eye Xyris complanata, copyright Mark Marathon.

Belongs within: Commelinidae.
Contains: Typhaceae, Bromeliaceae, Eriocaulaceae, Restionaceae, Poaceae, Cyperaceae, Juncaceae.

The Poales are a clade of monocotyledonous flowering plants united by molecular analyses, as well as by the presence of epidermal silica bodies (phytoliths). Members include the Rapateaceae, a mostly South American group of rush-like herbs with a V-shaped sheath on the leaves and capitate inflorescences bearing conspicuous flowers.

Characters (from Angiosperm Phylogeny Web): Mycorrhizae absent; vessel elements in roots often with simple perforation plates, vessels also in stem and leaf, also with simple perforation plates; SiO₂ epidermal; raphides absent; inflorescence indeterminate; style well developed, stigmas small, dry; micropyle bistomal, both integuments ca. 2 cells across; cotyledon hyperphyllar, haustorial; whole nuclear genome duplication [σ/sigma event]; mitochondrial sdh3 [succinate dehydrogenase 3] gene lost.

<==Poales [Glumales, Glumiflorae, Juncales, Xyridaceae, Xyridales, Xyrideae, Xyridineae]
    |  i. s.: Lyginia OS04 [Lyginiaceae DS04]
    |           `--L. barbata [incl. L. imberbis, L. symphyonema] B78
    |         Hopkinsiaceae DS04
    |--Rapateaceae [Rapateoideae] DS04
    |    |--Rapatea xiphoides DS04
    |    `--+--+--Cephalostemon flavus DS04
    |       |  `--Spathanthus bicolor DS04
    |       `--+--Stegolepis DS04
    |          |    |--S. ligulata BS05
    |          |    `--S. parvipetala DS04
    |          `--Saxofridericioideae DS04
    |               |--Kunhardtia radiata DS04
    |               `--+--Epidryos allenii DS04
    |                  `--Schoenocephalium cucullatum DS04
    `--+--Typhaceae DS04
       `--+--Bromeliaceae SR07
          `--+--+--Eriocaulaceae DS04
             |  `--+--Abolboda [Abolbodoideae] DS04
             |     |    `--A. macrostachya DS04
             |     `--+--Aratitiyopea lopezii DS04
             |        `--Orectanthe sceptrum DS04
             `--+--+--Flagellariaceae [Flagellarieae] DS04
                |  |    |--Flagellaria indica GPWG01
                |  |    `--Susum YY22
                |  `--+--Restionaceae SR07
                |     `--+--Joinvillea [Joinvilleaceae] DS04
                |        |    |--J. ascendens GPWG01
                |        |    `--J. plicata GPWG01 [=Flagellaria plicata B78]
                |        `--+--Poaceae SR07
                |           `--Ecdeiocolea [Ecdeiocoleaceae] SR07
                |                `--E. monostachya DS04
                `--+--Mayaca [Mayacaceae] SR07
                   |    `--M. sellowiana DS04
                   `--+--+--+--Cyperaceae SR07
                      |  |  `--Juncaceae DS04
                      |  `--+--Prionium [Prioniaceae] DS04
                      |     |    `--P. serratum DS04
                      |     `--Thurnia [Thurniaceae] DS04
                      |          |--T. jenmani DS04
                      |          `--T. polycephala DS04
                      `--Xyridoideae DS04
                           |--Achlyphila DS04
                           `--Xyris SR07
                                |--X. bicephala DS04
                                |--X. caroliniana [incl. X. flexuosa] V72
                                |--X. cheumatophila LK14
                                |--X. complanata [incl. X. elongata, X. laevis, X. scabra, X. walkeri] B78
                                |    |--X. c. var. complanata B78
                                |    |--X. c. var. bracteata B78
                                |    `--X. c. var. leptocaulis B78
                                |--X. difformis V72
                                |--X. flexifolia [incl. X. aemula] B78
                                |--X. gracilis [incl. X. juncea] B78
                                |--X. gracillima B78
                                |--X. indica LK14
                                |--X. jupicai DS04
                                |--X. lacera [incl. X. teretifolia] B78
                                |--X. lanata B78
                                |--X. laxiflora B78
                                |--X. montana V72
                                |--X. operculata B78
                                |    |--X. o. var. operculata B78
                                |    |--X. o. var. bracteata non X. complanata var. bracteata B78
                                |    `--X. o. var. macrocephala B78
                                |--X. pauciflora [incl. X. denticulata, X. oligantha, X. paludosa, X. pusilla] B78
                                `--X. torta V72

*Type species of generic name indicated

REFERENCES

[BS05] Barfuss, M. H. J., R. Samuel, W. Till & T. F. Stuessy. 2005. Phylogenetic relationships in subfamily Tillandsioideae (Bromeliaceae) based on DNA sequence data from seven plastid regions. American Journal of Botany 92 (2): 337–351.

[B78] Bentham, G. 1878. Flora Australiensis: A description of the plants of the Australian Territory vol. 7. Roxburghiaceae to Filices. L. Reeve & Co.: London.

[DS04] Davis, J. I., D. W. Stevenson, G. Petersen, O. Seberg, L. M. Campbell, J. V. Freudenstein, D. H. Goldman, C. R. Hardy, F. A. Michelangeli, M. P. Simmons, C. D. Specht, F. Vergara-Silva & M. Gandolfo. 2004. A phylogeny of the monocots, as inferred from rbcL and atpA sequence variation, and a comparison of methods for calculating jackknife and bootstrap values. Systematic Botany 29 (3): 467–510.

[GPWG01] Grass Phylogeny Working Group. 2001. Phylogeny and subfamilial classification of the grasses (Poaceae). Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 88 (3): 373–457.

[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.

[OS04] Obbens, F. J., & L. W. Sage. 2004. Vegetation and flora of a diverse upland remnant of the Western Australian wheatbelt (Nature Reserve A21064). Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 87 (1): 19–28.

[SR07] Saarela, J. M., H. S. Rai, J. A. Doyle, P. K. Endress, S. Mathews, A. D. Marchant, B. G. Briggs & S. W. Graham. 2007. Hydatellaceae identified as a new branch near the base of the angiosperm phylogenetic tree. Nature 446: 312–315.

[V72] Voss, E. G. 1972. Michigan Flora. Part I. Gymnosperms and Monocots. Cranbrook Institute of Science and University of Michigan Herbarium.

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

Last updated: 4 January 2022.