Corsiaceae Explained

Corsiaceae is a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants. The APG II system (2003) treats the family in the order Liliales, in the clade monocots. This is a slight change from the APG system, of 1998, which left the family unplaced as to order, but did assign it also to the monocots.

Taxonomy

The family is usually taken to include three genera, Corsia, Corsiopsis, and Arachnitis with a total of 27 known species.^[1] As the members of this family are achlorophyllous non-autotrophic herbs (i.e. they are not green, and do not photosynthesize) they have sometimes been included in the family Burmanniaceae which, however, according to APG II is not even in the same order. The APG companion site cites a reference which suggests the family should consist of Corsia only, with Arachnitis better placed nearer to family Burmanniaceae. Corsiopsis, like Arachnitis a monotypic genus, has been described recently.

Genera and species

• Arachnitis Phil., 1864
  • Arachnitis uniflora
• Corsia Becc., 1877
  • Corsia acuminata
  • Corsia arfakensis
  • Corsia boridiensis
  • Corsia brassii
  • Corsia clypeata
  • Corsia cordata
  • Corsia cornuta
  • Corsia crenata
  • Corsia cyclopensis
  • Corsia dispar
  • Corsia haianjensis
  • Corsia huonensis
  • Corsia lamellata
  • Corsia merimantaensis
  • Corsia ornata
  • Corsia papuana
  • Corsia purpurata
  • Corsia pyramidata
  • Corsia resiensis
  • Corsia torricellensis
  • Corsia triceratops
  • Corsia unguiculata
  • Corsia viridopurpurea
  • Corsia wiakabui
  • Corsia wubungu
• Corsiopsis D.X.Zhang, R.M.K.Saunders & C.M.Hu, 1999
  • Corsiopsis chinensis

Bibliography

• 10.1080/0028825X.2003.9512828. Neyland, R. . M. Hennigan. 2003. A phylogeny inferred from large-subunit (26S) ribosome DNA sequences suggests that the Corsiaceae are polyphyletic. New Zealand J. Bot.. 41. 1–11. 84392170 . free.
• Ibisch. Pierre L.. Neinhuis. Christoph. Rojas. N Patricia. On the Biology, Biogeography, and Taxonomy of Arachnitis Phil. nom. cons. (Corsiaceae) in Respect to a New Record from Bolivia. Willdenowia. 29 November 1996. 26. 1/2. 321–332. 3997251. 10.3372/wi.26.2616. free.
• Book: Merckx . Vincent . Mycoheterotrophy: the biology of plants living on fungi . 2013 . . New York . 978-1-4614-5208-9. Merckx. Vincent S. F. T.. Freudenstein. John V. . Kissling. Jonathan . etal. Taxonomy and Classification. 19–101. 10.1007/978-1-4614-5209-6 . 259078590 . .

External links

• links at CSDL, Texas

Notes and References

1. Christenhusz, M. J. M. . Byng, J. W. . 2016 . The number of known plants species in the world and its annual increase . Phytotaxa . 261 . 201–217 . 10.11646/phytotaxa.261.3.1 . 3 . free .