Celastraceae Explained

The Celastraceae (staff-vine or bittersweet) are a family of 98 genera and 1,350 species^[1] of herbs, vines, shrubs and small trees, belonging to the order Celastrales. The great majority of the genera are tropical, with only Celastrus (the staff vines), Euonymus (the spindles) and Maytenus widespread in temperate climates, and Parnassia (bog-stars) found in alpine and arctic climates.

Of the 97 currently recognized genera of the family Celastraceae, 19 are native to Madagascar and these include at least 57 currently recognized species. Six of these 19 genera (Brexiella, Evonymopsis, Hartogiopsis, Polycardia, Ptelidium, and Salvadoropsis) are endemic to Madagascar.^[2] The genera Celastrus, Euonymus, Maytenus, Salacia, and Tripterygium are a few better-known genera. These genera each have distinctive traits and functions of their own.^[3]

Genera

98 genera are accepted.

• Acanthothamnus
• Allocassine
• Anthodon
• Apatophyllum
• Apodostigma
• Arnicratea
• Bequaertia
• Brassiantha
• Brexia
• Brexiella
• Campylostemon
• Canotia – crucifixion thorn
• Cassine
• Catha – khat
• Celastrus – staff vine or staff tree
• Cheiloclinium
• Crossopetalum
• Cuervea
• Denhamia
• Dicarpellum
• Dinghoua
• Elachyptera
• Elaeodendron
• Empleuridium
• Euonymus – spindle
• Evonymopsis
• Fraunhofera
• Glyptopetalum
• Goniodiscus
• Gyminda
• Gymnosporia
• Hartogiopsis
• Haydenoxylon
• Hedraianthera
• Helictonema
• Hexaspora
• Hippocratea
• Hylenaea
• Hypsophila
• Kokoona
• Lauridia
• Lepuropetalon
• Loeseneriella
• Lophopetalum
• Lydenburgia
• Macgregoria
• Maurocenia
• Maytenus – mayten
• Menepetalum
• Microtropis
• Monimopetalum
• Mortonia
• Mystroxylon
• Nicobariodendron
• Orthosphenia
• Parnassia
• Paxistima
• Peripterygia
• Peritassa
• Plagiopteron
• Platypterocarpus
• Plenckia
• Pleurostylia
• Polycardia
• Pottingeria
• Prionostemma
• Pristimera
• Psammomoya
• Pseudosalacia
• Ptelidium
• Pterocelastrus
• Putterlickia
• Quetzalia
• Reissantia
• Robsonodendron
• Rzedowskia
• Salacia
• Salacighia
• Salaciopsis
• Salvadoropsis
• Sarawakodendron
• Schaefferia
• Semialarium
• Simicratea
• Siphonodon
• Stackhousia
• Tetrasiphon
• Thyrsosalacia
• Tontelea
• Torralbasia
• Tripterococcus
• Tripterygium
• Tristemonanthus
• Trochantha
• Wilczekra
• Wimmeria
• Xylonymus
• Zinowiewia

Fossil genera

• †Celastrinites

References

• University of Maryland: Cronquist Family Synonymy for Celastraceae

Notes and References

1. Christenhusz, M. J. M. . Byng, J. W. . amp . 2016 . The number of known plants species in the world and its annual increase . Phytotaxa . 261 . 201–17 . 10.11646/phytotaxa.261.3.1 . 3 . free .
2. Biogeography of the Malagasy Celastraceae: Multiple independent origins followed by widespread dispersal of genera from Madagascar. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 94. Part A. 365–82. 2016. 10.1016/j.ympev.2015.09.013. Bacon . Christine D. . Simmons . Mark P. . Archer . Robert H. . Zhao . Liang-Cheng . Andriantiana . Jacky .
3. Abubakari . Farida . Nkrumah . Philip Nti . Erskine . Peter D. . Brown . Gillian K. . Fernando . Denise R. . Echevarria . Guillaume . van der Ent . Antony . 2021-06-01 . Manganese (hyper)accumulation within Australian Denhamia (Celastraceae): an assessment of the trait and manganese accumulation under controlled conditions . Plant and Soil . en . 463 . 1 . 205–223 . 10.1007/s11104-021-04833-z . 1573-5036.