Combretaceae Explained

The Combretaceae, often called the white mangrove family, are a family of flowering plants in the order Myrtales. The family includes about 530 species of trees, shrubs, and lianas in ca 10 genera.^[1] The family includes the leadwood tree, Combretum imberbe. Three genera, Conocarpus, Laguncularia, and Lumnitzera, grow in mangrove habitats (mangals).^[2] The Combretaceae are widespread in the subtropics and tropics. Some members of this family produce useful construction timber, such as idigbo from Terminalia ivorensis. The commonly cultivated Quisqualis indica (as well as the entire former genus Quisqualis) is now placed in the genus Combretum. Many plants in the former Quisqualis genus contain the excitotoxin quisqualic acid, a potent AMPA agonist.^[3]

White mangroves

The family name comes from the type genus Combretum; it also includes the white mangrove, Laguncularia racemosa, found along seacoasts in tropical America and West Africa.

Genera

Plants of the World Online currently includes:^[4]

1. Combretum Loefl.
2. Conocarpus L.
3. Dansiea Byrnes
4. Getonia Roxb. (synonym Calycopteris)
5. Guiera Adans. ex Juss.
6. Laguncularia C.F.Gaertn. (monotypic)
7. Lumnitzera Willd.
8. Macropteranthes F.Muell.
9. Strephonema Hook.f.
10. Terminalia L. (synonyms: Anogeissus, Buchenavia, Bucida, Pteleopsis, Terminaliopsis)

synonyms of Combretum

• Meiostemon Exell & Stace
• Quisqualis L.
• Thiloa Eichler^[5]

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 . 201–217 . 10.11646/phytotaxa.261.3.1 . 3 . free .
2. Web site: Lumnitzera. University of Queensland. 30 June 2010.
3. Munir . Muhammad . Lu . Lisha . McGonigle . Paul . 1995 . Excitotoxic cell death and delayed rescue in human neurons derived from NT2 cells . Journal of Neuroscience . 15 . 12 . 7847–7860 . 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.15-12-07847.1995 .
4. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:77126653-1 Plants of the World Online: Combretaceae R.Br. (retrieved 19 January 2022)
5. Web site: GRIN Genera of Combretaceae . Germplasm Resources Information Network . United States Department of Agriculture . 2010-11-27 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20041118062757/http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/gnlist.pl?280 . 2004-11-18 .