Rousseaceae

Rousseaceae
Abrophyllum ornans
Cuttsia viburnea
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Asterales
Family:	Rousseaceae Hook.f. ex Benth.
genera
Roussea Abrophyllum Carpodetus Cuttsia
Synonyms
Carpodetaceae

Rousseaceae is a plant family in the order Asterales containing trees and shrubs. The fruit is a berry or capsule. Leaves are simple, with toothed margins. Leaf stipules are not seen in this group.

The family contains three^[1] or four genera^[2] and twelve or thirteen species. From East Africa, New Guinea, New Zealand and Australia. Molecular analysis suggested that Abrophyllum, Cuttsia and Carpodetus used to be assigned to the Carpodetaceae, or as part of in the family Escalloniaceae, but more recent genetic analysis showed these genera are closely related to Roussea and not to the Escalloniaceae.

Taxonomy

Roussea is sister to the remainder of the family and is most distanced from the other genera. Carpodetus is the sister to the clade consisting of Abrophyllum and Cuttsia. This results in the following phylogenetic tree.^[3]

order Asterales	family Campanulaceae (± cosmopolitan) family Rousseaceae subfamily Rousseoideae Roussea (Mauritius) subfamily Carpodetoideae (eastern Australia) Abrophyllum Cuttsia Carpodetus (New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Zealand) other Asterales families

References

1. "Rousseaceae family". New South Wales Flora Online.
2. Floyd, A.G., Rainforest Trees of Mainland South-eastern Australia, Inkata Press 2008, ISBN 978-0-9589436-7-3 page 326
3. Michael Heads (2013). Biogeography of Australasia: A Molecular Analysis. Cambridge University Press.