Editing Cornaceae

{{Short description|Family of flowering plants}}
{{Automatic taxobox
|image = Cornus suecica Ume River.jpg
|image_caption = ''[[Cornus suecica]]''
|taxon = Cornaceae
|authority = Bercht. & J.Presl
|subdivision_ranks = Genera
|subdivision =
{{unbulleted list
|''[[Alangium]]''
|''[[Cornus]]''
}}
}}

The '''Cornaceae''' are a [[cosmopolitan family]] of [[flowering plant]]s in the order [[Cornales]]. The family contains approximately 85 species in two genera,<ref name="Christenhusz-Byng2016">{{cite journal |author1=Christenhusz, M. J. M. |author2=Byng, J. W.  |name-list-style=amp | year = 2016 | title = The number of known plants species in the world and its annual increase | journal = Phytotaxa | volume = 261 | pages = 201–217 | url = http://biotaxa.org/Phytotaxa/article/download/phytotaxa.261.3.1/20598 | doi = 10.11646/phytotaxa.261.3.1 | issue = 3 | publisher = Magnolia Press | doi-access = free }}</ref> ''[[Alangium]]'' and ''[[Cornus]]''. They are mostly trees and shrubs, which may be deciduous or evergreen, although a few species are perennial herbs. Members of the family usually have opposite or alternate simple leaves, four- or five-parted flowers clustered in [[inflorescence]]s or [[pseudanthium|pseudanthia]], and [[drupe|drupaceous]] fruits.<ref name=Kubitzki>Kubitzki, K. (2004). Cornaceae. In ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants Volume 6: Flowering Plants: Dicotyledons: Celastrales, Oxidales, Rosales, Cornales, Ericales'' (Kubitzki, ed.). Springer-Verlag, New York.</ref> The family is primarily distributed in northern temperate regions and tropical Asia.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Heywood|first1=V.H.|title=Flowering Plant Families of the World|last2=Brummitt|first2=R.K.|last3=Culham|first3=A.|last4=Seberg|last5=O.|publisher=Firefly Books|year=2007|isbn=9781842461655|location=Buffalo, New York|pages=112}}</ref> In northern temperate areas, Cornaceae are well known from the dogwoods ''[[dogwood|Cornus]]''.

The [[systematics]] of Cornaceae has been remarkably unsettled and controversial, and many genera have been added to it and removed from it over time. (One researcher called it a "dustbin".<ref name=Eyde1988>Eyde, R. H. (1988). Comprehending ''Cornus'' - puzzles and progress in the systematics of the dogwoods. ''Botanical Review'' '''54''', 233-351.</ref>) [[Molecular phylogenetics]] have clarified the relatedness of some associated genera, and at least nine genera that were previously included in Cornaceae have been eliminated from the order Cornales entirely,<ref name=Fan2003>Fan, C. Z., and Xiang, Q. Y. (2003). Phylogenetic analyses of Cornales based on 26S rRNA and combined 26S rDNA-matK-rbcL sequence data. ''American Journal of Botany'' '''90''', 1357-1372.</ref> but the circumscription of Cornaceae is still unclear. The [[Angiosperm Phylogeny Group]] usually defines Cornaceae as comprising the genera ''[[Cornus (genus)|Cornus]]'' and ''[[Alangium]]'' as well as five genera now separated into the family [[Nyssaceae]]. However, many of these genera are sometimes split off into their own families (e.g. [[Alangiaceae]]), and the usage remains inconsistent.<ref name=Fan2003 /><ref name=APGIII>{{Cite journal |last=Angiosperm Phylogeny Group |year=2009 |title=An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III |journal=Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=161 |issue=2 |pages=105–121 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x |doi-access=free |hdl=10654/18083 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

==Fossil record==
The oldest [[fossil]] that can be related to Cornaceae is †''Hironoia fusiformis'', an [[extinct]] taxon collected from the [[Futaba Group]] sediments at Kamitikaba, [[Japan]]. [[Synapomorphies]] of the fruits of the fossil occur also in extant Cornaceae. The age of the sediments is of early [[Coniacian]] to early [[Santonian]] (about 88 Ma).<ref>The Timetree of Life edited by S. Blair Hedges and Sudhir Kumar, OUP Oxford, 23. apr. 2009 - 576 pages, {{ISBN|0191560154}}, 9780191560156.</ref> Although the mosaic of characters in ''Hironoia'' precludes assignment to an extant genus, the fiber rather than sclereid composition of the fruit places it within the [[Nyssaceae]]-Mastixiaceae. Other possible Cornaceae from [[Cretaceous]] sediments include [[endocarp]]s resembling [[Cornus]] from the [[Santonian]]-[[Campanian]] mesofossil
assemblage of [[Åsen]]. In slightly younger [[Late Cretaceous]] sediments ([[Maastrichtian]]) four genera of [[fossil]] mastixioid fruits (''Beckettia'', ''Eomastixia'', ''Mastixicarpum'' and ''Mastixiopsis'') have been described from [[Germany]].<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Takahashi|first1=M.|last2=Crane|first2=P.R.|last3=Manchester|first3=S.R.|year=2002|title=''Hironoia fusiformis'' gen. et sp. nov.; a cornalean fruit from the Kamikitaba locality (Upper Cretaceous, Lower Coniacian) in northeastern Japan|journal=Journal of Plant Research|volume=115|issue=6|pages=463–473|doi=10.1007/s10265-002-0062-6}}</ref>

==References==
[[File:(MHNT) Cornus sanguinea - Inflorescence.jpg|thumb|left|''[[Cornus sanguinea]]'']]
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Research/APweb/orders/cornalesweb.htm#Cornaceae Cornaceae on the Angiosperm Phylogeny Website of the Missouri Botanical Garden]
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{{Angiosperm families}}
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[[Category:Cornaceae| ]]
[[Category:Asterid families]]