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• Defining the genera

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• The striking flowers of Gnidia rubescens.

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• Gnidia pinifolia in bloom.

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• Gnidia glauca (known formerly as Lasiosiphon glaucus).

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• Detail of flowers of Gnidia glauca (known formerly as Lasiosiphon glaucus).

• The circumscription of genera in Thymelaeaceae has always been especially difficult, and is to some degree artificial. For example, the difficulty of distinguishing Daphne from Wikstroemia has been commented upon by Rautenbach and Herber.[4][10] Several small genera are probably embedded in Daphne or Wikstroemia, or if Daphne and Wikstroemia are intermingled, these small genera might be embedded in both simultaneously. Stellera, for example, is nested within Wikstroemia, at least (see the phylogenetic tree below).

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• A recent comparison of DNA sequences has established the monophyly of Thymelaea and the polyphyly of Diarthron,[11] but there was not sufficient sampling in Wikstroemia and Daphne to exclude the possibility that Thymelaea, Diarthron, and others might be embedded in them.

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• The large genus Gnidia is polyphyletic and its species fall into 4 separate clades, each of which contains other genera of the family (see the phylogenetic tree below). The type species for Gnidia is Gnidia pinifolia. If Gnidia is divided into 4 or more separate genera, the segregate genus which contains G. pinifolia will retain the name Gnidia. Zachary S. Rogers published a revision of the Gnidia of Madagascar in 2009 in Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden.

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• Some of the older treatments of Thymelaeaceae recognize Lasiosiphon as a separate genus from Gnidia. This distinction was later shown to be artificial. However, Van der Bank et al. (2002)[9] suggested that Lasiosiphon might be resurrected if redefined. The type species for Lasiosiphon is Gnidia glauca, formerly known as Lasiosiphon glaucus.

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• Open questions

• Rautenbach used different names from Herber for some of the groups and placed some of the groups at different taxonomic rank, but her phylogeny supports Herber's classification with the few exceptions noted below. The only strongly supported difference (99% (bootstrap percentage) from Herber's classification was that Dais was found to be sister to Phaleria. The phylogeny casts significant doubt upon the monophyly of the subfamily Octolepidoideae, and upon the monophyly of the informal Octolepis and Gonostylus groups, but this result had only weak statistical support. Only a sampling of more species and more DNA from each will determine whether these groups are monophyletic or not. Stephanodaphne and Peddiea might need to be transferred to the Gnidia group, but support was not strong (60% BP) for a clade consisting of the Gnidia group with Stephanodaphne and Peddiea. Again, more extensive sampling will be required to resolve this question. Two of the 3 genera placed incertae sedis by Herber (Linodendron and Lasiadenia) have not yet been sampled and their relationships to other genera remain obscure.

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• Genera

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• Gonystylus bancanus native to Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia: botanical line drawing of detailed anatomy.

• Herber (2003)[10] recognized 45 genera, excluding Tepuianthus from the family, sinking Atemnosiphon and Englerodaphne into Gnidia, Eriosolena into Daphne, and Thecanthes into Pimelea.[10] The largest genera and the approximate number of species in each are Gnidia (160), Pimelea (110), Daphne (95), Wikstroemia (70), Daphnopsis (65), Struthiola (35), Lachnaea (30), Thymelaea (30), Phaleria (30), and Gonystylus (25).[10]

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• As of December 2014, 50+ genera are accepted by the World Checklist of Thymelaceae:[12]

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• Aetoxylon

• Amyxa

• Aquilaria

• Arnhemia

• Atemnosiphon

• Craterosiphon

• Dais

• Daphne

• Daphnopsis

• Deltaria

• Diarthron

• Dicranolepis

• Dirca

• Drapetes

• Edgeworthia

• Englerodaphne

• Enkleia

• Eriosolena

• Funifera

• Gnidia

• Gonystylus

• Goodallia

• Gyrinops

• Jedda

• Kelleria

• Lachnaea

• Lagetta

• Lasiadenia

• Lethedon

• Linodendron

• Linostoma

• Lophostoma

• Octolepis

• Ovidia

• Passerina

• Peddiea

• Phaleria

• Pimelea

• Restella

• Rhamnoneuron

• Schoenobiblus

• Solmsia

• Stellera

• Stephanodaphne

• Struthiola

• Synandrodaphne

• Synaptolepis

• Tepuianthus

• Thecanthes

• Thymelaea

• Wikstroemia

• In the past, different authors have defined Thymelaeaceae in different ways. For example, John Hutchinson excluded Gonystylus and its close relatives, as well as Aquilaria and its close relatives from the family, forming 2 segregate families: Gonystylaceae and Aquilariaceae.[13] But today, the only controversy that still remains over the circumscription of the family is the question of whether Tepuianthus should be included, or segregated as a separate, monogeneric family.[14] Stevens includes Tepuianthus, but Kubitzki treats Tepuianthaceae as a separate family.[15]

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• Distribution

• The family is more diverse in the Southern Hemisphere than in the Northern, with major concentrations of species in Africa and Australia.[16] The genera are overwhelmingly African.[17]

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• Ethnobotany and economic use

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• Lagetta lagetto the Lacebark : botanical illustration showing plant with samples of cordage and fabric made from its fibre.

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• Intricate Jamaican souvenirs woven from Lacebark fibre.

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• The Brazilian Funifera utilis - its genus named for the suitability of its fibre for rope-making. (Under obsolete name Lagetta funifera).

• Several genera are of economic importance. Gonystylus (Ramin) is valued for its comparatively soft, easily worked yellowish wood, but trade in all species in the genus are controlled by CITES. Many genera have inner bark yielding strong fibre suitable for the making of cordage and paper - a fact actually acknowledged in the naming of one of the genera, Funifera being the Latin for "bearer (provider) of rope". The barks of Daphne, Edgeworthia, Rhamnoneuron, Thymelaea, Stellera, and Wikstroemia are used in paper-making, while Lagetta species are known as lacebark for their lacelike inner bark, the attractive appearance of which has led to their being used to make clothing and other utilitarian objects.

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• Toxicity and medicinal uses

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• The attractive, but deadly, fruits of Daphne mezereum.

• Many of the species (e.g. Wikstroemia indica and Stellera chamaejasme) have actual or potential uses in medicine and are poisonous if eaten, acting as violent purges (e.g. Daphne mezereum), this toxicity often being related to the plants' containing phorbol esters which, as the name suggests, are also common in the spurge family Euphorbiaceae.[18]

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• Use as ornamental plants

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• The sweetly-scented and highly ornamental flowers of Daphne bholua, a Nepalese species used also in traditional paper-making.

• Daphne is grown (despite the high toxicity of its attractive fruits) for its sweetly scented flowers. Species of Wikstroemia, Daphne, Phaleria, Dais, Pimelea and other genera are grown as ornamentals.[19]

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