Aristolochiaceae
Aristolochiaceae Juss., Gen. Pl. 72. 1789. nom. cons. 'Birthwort Family'
Characteristic Features
Members are mostly aromatic lianes, scramblers, shrubs, or rhizomatous herbs.
Leaves in spirals, simple, often cordate, marcescent and palmately veined.
Flowers emitting smell of rotten meat, with enlarged, usually ‘S’ shaped petaloid calyx, reduced or completely absent corolla, often adnate stamens forming gynostemium.
Gynoecium with 3-6 carpels, locules of ovary as many as carpels, with mumerous ovules in each locule.
Diversity:
World- 8 genera, 624 species (The Plant List 2013); 7 genera, 500 species (Christenhusz & Byng 2016); 8 genera, 660 species (Mabberley 2017); 6 genera, 681 species (CoL 2021)
India - 4 genera, 26 species (Karthikeyan et al. 2009); 3 genera, 30 species (BSI, 2021)
Indian Himalaya- 2 genera, 12 species (Singh et al. 2019)
Uttarakhand - 1 genus, 5 species (Uniyal et al. 2007)
General Characters:
Aristolochiaceae in Watson & Dallwitz (1992 onwards)
Aristolochiaceae in POWO 2019 (Plants of the World Online)
Aristolochiaceae in Wikipedia
Systematic Position of Family in Different Systems of Classifications:
Systematic position in 2-Superkingdom, 7-Kingdom classification of Ruggiero et al. (2015)
Super Kingdom- Eukaryota, Kingdom- Plantae, Subkingdom- Viridiplantae, Infrakingdom- Streptophyta, Superphylum- Embryophyta, Phylum- Tracheophyta, Subphylum- Spermatophytina, Superclass- Angiospermae, Class- Magnoliopsida, Superorder- Magnolianae, Order- Piperales
Bentham & Hooker (1862-83)
Class : Dicotyledons
Subclass : Monochlamydeae
Series : Multiovulatae Terrestres
Engler & Prantl (1887-1915)
Kingdom : Plantae
Division : Embryophyta Siphonogama
Subdivision : Angiospermae
Class : Dicotyledoneae
Subclass : Archichlamydeae
Order : Aristolochiales
Hutchinson (1973)
Phylum : Angiospermae
Subphylum : Dicotyledones
Division : Herbaceae
Order : Aristolochiales
Cronquist (1988)
Division : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Subclass : Magnoliidae
Order : Aristolochiales
Thorne & Reveal (2007)
Class : Magnoliopsida
Subclass : Magnoliidae
Super Order: Magnolianae
Order : Piperales
Takhtajan (2009)
Phylum : Magnoliophyta
Class : Magnoliopsida
Subclass : Magnoliidae
Super Order : Piperanae
Order : Piperales
Reveal (2012)
Class : Equisetopsida
Subclass : Magnoliidae
Super Order : Magnolianae
Order : Piperales
APG-IV (2016)
Clade : Angiosperms
Clade : Magnoliids
Order : Piperales
Shipunov (2020)
Class : Angiospermae
Subclass : Magnoliidae
Order : Piperales
Suborder : Aristolochiineae
Genera & Species in Pantnagar
To see larger images please click on the names
