Garryaceae

Garryaceae
Garrya elliptica foliage and catkins
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Eudicots
(unranked):	Asterids
Order:	Garryales
Family:	Garryaceae Lindl.[1]
Genera
Garrya Aucuba

Garryaceae is a small family of dicotyledons, including only two genera:

• Garrya Douglas ex Lindl., 1834. About 16-18 species.
• Aucuba Thunb., 1783. About 3-10 species.

Aucuba was included in the family Cornaceae in some classification systems.

Chemical characteristics

Petroselinic acid occurs as the major fatty acid in Aucuba and Garrya species, and is also found in the families Griseliniaceae, Apiaceae and Araliaceae of the Apiales .^[2] Together with Eucommia ulmoides the Garryaceae are currently placed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group in an own order, the Garryales.

Aucuba japonica

Distribution

The family is found in warm temperate and subtropical regions, Garrya in North America, and Aucuba in eastern Asia. They are evergreen shrubs or small trees with opposite, simple leaves.

References

1. Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2009). "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III" (PDF). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 161 (2): 105–121. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x. Retrieved 2013-06-26.
2. B. Breuer, T. Stuhlfauth, H. Fock and H. Huber (1987). "Fatty acids of some cornaceae, hydrangeaceae, aquifoliaceae, hamamelidaceae and styracaceae". Phytochemistry 26 (5): 1441–1445. doi:10.1016/S0031-9422(00)81830-0.