Phrymaceae

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Phrymaceae Schauer 1847, or the lopseed family, is a small plant family in the order Lamiales. It now consists of about 190 species, distributed worldwide but with the majority in western North America (about 130 species) and Australia (about 30 species).

Previously, this family was monotypic with the genus Phryma, and limited in geographic range to eastern North America and eastern China. This genus was previously placed by Cronquist in the verbena family Verbenaceae.

New research of phylogenetic relationships (Beardsley & Olmstead, 2002) has revealed that several genera, traditionally included in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae, are actually more closely related to the newly defined and expanded Phrymaceae.

The family Phrymaceae is mainly defined by the following three characteristics:

Tubular, toothed calyces (with five lobes).

Stigmas with two lamellas with sensitive inner surfaces, that close together on contact with a pollinator.

Capsules that are readily dehiscent in the length between the partitions of the locule.

Members of this family occur in the most diverse habitats, ranging from deserts, river banks or mountains. They can be annuals or perennials, with a length between a few centimeters to woody shrubs of 4 m high.

They can be morphological rather different, even so that a morphologicakl assessment becomes difficult. Their corollas can be bilaterally or radially symmetrical.

Even reproduction is brought about by different breeding systems : asexual, self-fertilizing, outcrossing or mixed mating. Some are pollinated by insects, others by hummingbirds.

The most common fruit type in this family is a readily dehiscent capsule containing numerous seeds, but exceptions exist (an achene, as in Phryma leptostachya, or a berry-like fruit as in Leucocarpus).

The genus Mimulus (with about 120 species) is not monophyletic. Six other genera are derived from within it (Glossostigma, Peplidium, Phryma, Leucocarpus, Hemichaena, and Berendtiell), and the Australian genus Elacholoma probably as well. The genus Mimulus is cosmopolitan, with most species in western North America (and the greatest number in California). It also occurs in Australia, South Africa, India, Chile, Mexico, the Himalayas and Madagascar. The taxonomic relationships of these species remain unclear and a redefinition is in order; a breaking up of this genus is probably the next step, requiring more than 100 name changes.

Genera

Subfamily Mazoideae

* Mazus Lour.

* Lancea Hook.f. & Thomson

Subfamily Phrymoideae (about 160 species)

* Mimulus L.

* Dodartia L.

* Glossostigma Wight & Arn. (with three or four lobes in the calyx instead five; contains one large and one vestigial stigma lobe)

* Peplidium Delile (contains one large and one vestigial stigma lobe)

* Phryma L.

* Leucocarpus D.Don

* Berendtiella Wettst. & Harms

* Hemichaena Benth. 1841

* Elacholoma F.Muell. & Tate (the stigma lobes are relatively long and are receptive over most of their length)

Reference

Beardsley, P. M. & Olmstead, R. G. 2002. Redefining Phrymaceae: the placement of Mimulus, tribe Mimuleae, and Phryma. American Journal of Botany 89: 1093-1102 (available online here).

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