Gentianales

▪ plant order

Introduction

  gentian order of flowering plants, consisting of 5 families with more than 1,100 genera and nearly 17,000 species. The families are Gentianaceae, Rubiaceae, Apocynaceae (including Secamonoideae and Asclepiadoideae), Loganiaceae, and Gelsemiaceae. Except for the small Gelsemiaceae, the families of Gentianales have many species and are important sources of ornamental plants and drugs.

  Members of Gentianales have leaves that are opposite or whorled (two or more per node), with simple blades. The leaves are usually accompanied by stipules (small leaflike appendages at the base of the leaves), which are sometimes reduced to a ridge on the stem between adjacent leaf stalks. Some members secrete mucilage from thick glandular hairs (colleters) at the base of the leaf stalk or on the adjacent stipules, and many produce iridoid compounds, cardiotonic glycosides, or indole alkaloids to deter herbivores. The flowers are usually showy and alike in size and shape (regular), and the petals are usually joined. In bud the petals are either regularly overlapping (imbricate or convolute) or else valvate (nonoverlapping). The carpels are generally united to form a compound ovary (although they usually become separated secondarily in Apocynaceae); the ovules possess one integument (early stage of seed coat); and the nucellus (the nutritive tissue beneath the integument) is one-layered. The fruits are varied, usually with numerous seeds, and the ovary is generally in a superior position within the flower, except for the mostly inferior ovaries of Rubiaceae. The majority of species are native to the tropics or warm temperate regions, although Gentianaceae and Rubiaceae are well represented in the north temperate zone. Trees, shrubs, and vines are characteristic of this order, more so than annual or perennial herbs.

      Gentianales belongs to the core asterid clade (organisms with a single common ancestor), or sympetalous lineage of flowering plants, in the Asterid I group of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II (APG II) botanical classification system (see angiosperm).

Gentianaceae

 Gentianaceae, or the gentian family, contains 87 genera and more than 1,600 species. These are mainly herbs or shrubs, with the greatest number of species in the northern temperate region (some 600 species between Gentiana and Gentianella), but the greatest genus-level and genetic and morphological diversity occurs in the tropics and subtropics. Gentianaceae lack stipules in all but two genera. Biochemically, they lack alkaloids, but they produce iridoid compounds and xanthones. In the flowers the petals (most often 4 or 5 in number, but rarely 3 or up to 16) are joined together to form a trumpet-, funnel-, or bell-shaped tube. The stamens are joined to the corolla tube on the inside and occur in the same number as the petals, and the superior ovary has parietal placentation (the ovules, or placentae, are positioned along the outer walls of the ovary or along partial partitions extending inward) or else axile placentation (ovules are positioned around a central column in the ovary). Fruits are mostly capsular (dry and splitting open to disperse the small seeds). Some of the largest genera are centred in the northern temperate zone, such as Gentiana (360 species) and Gentianella (250 species). Flowers of certain members of these genera display some of the purest blues in the plant kingdom, and many are cultivated as garden ornamentals. Gentiana lutea of the Alps is prized for its yellow flowers; its root is locally considered medicinal and is used to flavour herbal bitters and aperitifs. Many gentians favour wet woods and meadows as habitats; other species prefer rocky alpine conditions. Their tubular corollas vary from wide open to completely closed. Eustoma is a Central and South American genus of several herbaceous species that are now widely cultivated as cut flowers. They are often sold under the name lisianthus, which is confusing, since Lisianthius is a quite different shrubby tropical New World genus of gentians that has not been cultivated. Three distinct groups of tropical gentians have lost their leaves and lack chlorophyll entirely; instead, Voyria, Voyriella, and Cotylanthera rely on fungal associations (mycorrhizae) or else on decaying plant material to grow. They are small yellow-to-bluish understory herbs of tropical rainforests.

      The bizarre-looking Saccifolium bandeirae, known from a single mountain peak in the Guiana region of southern Venezuela and northern Brazil, used to be placed in its own family, Saccifoliaceae. Now it has been shown to belong near the base of the family tree of Gentianaceae; it differs mainly in its pouchlike or saccate leaves clustered at the tips of the branches. Another group recently added to Gentianaceae are 13 genera in the tribe Potalieae, a group formerly placed in Loganiaceae. Two of these genera are unusual in having more numerous petals and stamens than other gentians, and some species of Potalia in South America are credited with strong medicinal powers, such as remedies for poisonous snake bites.

Rubiaceae

  Rubiaceae, or the coffee family, is large, mainly tropical, and quite readily recognizable. It contains about 660 genera and more than 11,000 species, which are found worldwide in most habitats. These species include trees, shrubs, lianas, and herbs, with opposite to whorled leaves and stipules that are usually joined across the stem between adjacent leaves. Floral parts, such as sepals, petals, and stamens, usually occur in fours or fives, and the corollas are generally tubular and regular in shape. The main distinguishing features of the family are the characteristic stipules and inferior ovaries. Several genera reverted to a superior position, however, and their classification was controversial before molecular evidence became available. Heterostyly (floral forms with reciprocal differences in the length of the style and stamens) is common to Rubiaceae, though not unique to the family. In Rubiaceae there are only two floral forms of heterostylous flowers. Rubiaceae trees and shrubs are important ecological components of tropical forests worldwide, generally constituting at least 5 percent of the local species and individual plants. Pollination of Rubiaceae flowers is almost always by animals, including insects, birds, and bats, and the flowers have a notably wide range of forms. Many types of fruits and seeds are found in the family, from large edible fruits to tiny wind-dispersed seeds. A number of Rubiaceae have symbiotic relationships with invertebrates, including many that form structures in stems and leaves that house ant colonies.

      One of the world's most important commodities is coffee, from the caffeine-producing seeds (“beans”) of Coffea arabica and C. canephora, the latter formerly known as C. robusta. Cinchona species are a source of quinine, which was an early effective remedy for malaria. The drug ipecac, used medicinally to induce vomiting, is derived from Psychotria ipecacuanha; Psychotria is one of the largest genera of flowering plants, with some 1,400 species found worldwide. Ixora, Mussaenda, Gardenia, and Pentas are widely cultivated in warm climates or occasionally as houseplants. Galium ( bedstraw) has about 400 species worldwide, most of them in temperate regions, and has conspicuous, apparently whorled leaves (the extra leaves in each node are actually modified stipules that are almost identical to the main leaves). Asperula and Rubia are similar to Galium; R. tinctorum ( madder) is the traditional source of the red dye alizarin, now prepared synthetically. The fruits of a number of tropical Rubiaceae species are edible. Genipa is cultivated in large plantations in Brazil, and the borojó fruit, from the genus Borojoa, and noni juice, from the fruits of Morinda citrifolia, are marketed especially in Europe for a wide range of health benefits.

Apocynaceae

 Apocynaceae, or the dogbane family, is broadly circumscribed to include the traditional Asclepiadaceae, or milkweed family. Together they include about 415 genera and more than 4,500 species. This realignment is based on DNA sequence as well as morphological similarities, such as their milky sap and highly modified gynoecium (female flower structure). These female floral adaptations include a highly modified, often five-sided style head, with the two carpels generally free from each other (unusual among the asterids), except for being joined near their apex by the styles or stigmas. In fruit the carpels often develop as one or two separate follicles that split open and release tufted seeds, such as the milkweeds do. Other members of the family produce capsules with arillate seeds or else berrylike fruits that are ingested by animal dispersers. Nearly all members of this family are poisonous, and many species are used medicinally because of the presence of cardiac glycosides and various alkaloids. Catharanthus (Madagascar, or rosy, periwinkle) is a source of drugs for treatment of leukemia. Rauvolfia produces reserpine, which is used for hypertension and for mental illnesses. The common name for Apocynum, dogbane, refers to its effects on animals. Even the commonly cultivated tropical shrub Nerium ( oleander) is poisonous and has caused deaths in infants who ingested as little as a single leaf.

      Within Apocynaceae the milkweeds are treated as a strongly supported subfamily (Asclepiadoideae) that is characterized by having pollen agglutinated into packets (pollinia) and specialized appendages of the stamens that store nectar and assist in pollination. There is usually an extra set of petal-like structures (corona) between the corolla and the stamens. The anthers unite into a sheath that adheres to the thickened style. A yoke-shaped structure called the translator attaches to the pollinia of two different adjacent anthers. The translators become entangled on the legs of visiting insects so that the departing insect carries a pair of pollinia joined by the translator. When the insect visits the next flower, the pollinia may be transferred to the stigmas, which are borne on the stylehead and alternate with the anthers. This method of pollination is complex, but when it works, great numbers of pollen grains are transferred, which results in the production of large numbers of seeds.

  Many members of Apocynaceae are ornamental. Within the milkweed group, these include Asclepias tuberosa ( butterfly weed) and Hoya carnosa ( waxplant). There are also numerous cultivars of the cactuslike Stapelia ( carrion flower), an African succulent; petals of many species are foul-smelling and yellowish, with bands of darker colours. In the dogbane group Vinca ( periwinkle) is a common ornamental groundcover in temperate areas, and tropical ornamentals include Allamanda, Carissa (Natal plum), and Plumeria (frangipani).

      The association of Danaus plexippus ( monarch butterfly) with plants of the genus Asclepias (milkweed) illustrates the continuing evolution of adaptations in the battle between plants and predators. Although cardenolides in the latex of the milkweeds are highly poisonous, the monarch caterpillar is able to eat the plant and concentrate the poison in the wings and abdomen of the adult, where it does not interfere with metabolism; in fact, the cardenolides give the caterpillar and butterfly a nauseating taste, causing them to be avoided by birds, which might otherwise eat them. Different species of milkweed produce different kinds and amounts of the poisonous cardenolides, conferring greater or lesser protection to the caterpillars and butterflies. Some birds have learned to pluck out the internal organs of the butterflies, avoiding the highly poisonous wings.

Loganiaceae

      Loganiaceae, or the Logania family, was delimited quite differently in the past, and a number of groups once placed in Loganiaceae have been reassigned to other families and even different orders under the APG II system. Traditionally, the family was considered to contain about 30 genera and more than 500 species, but groups such as the tribe Potalieae have been moved to Gentianaceae, and two genera have been recognized as the separate family Gelsemiaceae. Buddleja, also spelled Buddleia (butterfly bush), and related genera were once treated in Loganiaceae as well, but they have been placed in the order Lamiales. The beautiful hummingbird-pollinated South American shrub Desfontainia spinosa was formerly included in Loganiaceae but has been moved to Dipsacales.

      Loganiaceae is considered to have 13 genera and more than 400 species, which are mostly tropical. Most of its members have opposite, simple leaves with sheaths, stipules, or interpetiolar lines, and they characteristically have colleters (multicellular fingerlike glands at the inside base of the leaves, bracts, or calyx). The typically asterid flowers have four or five lobes, petals fused into a corolla tube, sepals usually basally joined, and the same number of stamens as petals. The ovary is superior in most members, with two carpels and locules, and axile placentation. Fruits vary from capsules to fleshy drupes (drupe). There are four main groups of Loganiaceae: Spigelia; Strychnos, Gardneria, and Neuburgia; Antonia, Bonyunia, Norrisia, and Usteria; and Geniostoma (also known as Labordia), Logania, Mitrasacme, and Mitreola.

 The economically most important genus of Loganiaceae is Strychnos (also the largest, with about 190 species), which produces several poisonous indole alkaloids such as strychnine and brucine. The South American liana Strychnos toxifera is a source of curare (a mixture of plant extracts used to poison arrows), also used as a fish or rodent poison and as a source of pharmacological products. Alkaloids produced by Strychnos ignatii, the Saint Ignatius's bean of the Philippines, have been used to treat cholera. Strychnos spinosa (Natal orange) of southern Africa produces a yellow berry with edible pulp. Some species of Spigelia are known to be highly poisonous.

Gelsemiaceae

 Gelsemiaceae is a small family of 2 shrubby or lianoid genera and 11 species that were formerly placed in Loganiaceae but appear to be close to Apocynaceae. Gelsemium elegans (allspice jasmine) from Indomalesia contains powerful alkaloids that have been used in murder and suicide. The sweetly scented Gelsemium sempervirens (Carolina or yellow jessamine) is a familiar vine in the southern United States that is also cultivated and has been used medicinally for migraines (migraine) (though it is very poisonous). The second genus, Mostuea, shows a transoceanic distribution as well, with one American and seven African species.

Paul E. Berry

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