Parnassiaceae

Parnassia palustris (Northern grass of Parnassus)

Parnassiaceae Gray were a family of flowering plants in the eudicot order Celastrales.[1] The family is not recognized in the APG III system of plant classification.[2] When that system was published in 2009, Parnassiaceae were treated as subfamily Parnassioideae of an expanded family Celastraceae.[3]

Parnassiaceae have only two genera, Lepuropetalon and Parnassia.[4] Lepuropetalon has only one species, Lepuropetalon spathulatum, a winter annual that usually prefers sandy soil. It is one of the smallest of flowering plants, up to 2 cm tall.[5] Lepuropetalon has a disjunct distribution, being known from the southeastern United States and central Chile,[6] but is probably far more common than has been reported.[7]

Parnassia is a genus of perennial herbs, up to 60 cm tall, that grow in bogs, marshes, and other wet areas, mostly in cool to cold climates of the north temperate zone. There are at least 70 species.[8] Sixty-three species occur in China and 49 of these occur nowhere else.[9] A second area of diversity for Parnassia is North America and about 9 species occur there.[10] Parnassia palustris is the most well known and widely distributed species. It ranges through most of northern Eurasia, Canada, and the western United States.[11] Parnassia palustris is widely cultivated. About 10 species are known in cultivation, all as ornamentals.[12]

  1. ^ Vernon H. Heywood, Richard K. Brummitt, Ole Seberg, and Alastair Culham. Flowering Plant Families of the World. Firefly Books: Ontario, Canada. (2007).
  2. ^ Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. 2009. "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 161(2):105-121. (see External links below).
  3. ^ Peter F. Stevens (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. In: Missouri Botanical Garden Website. (see external links below)
  4. ^ Mark P. Simmons "Parnassiaceae" In: Klaus Kubitzki (ed.). The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants vol. VI. Springer-Verlag: Berlin,Heidelberg (2004).
  5. ^ Stephen A. Spongberg (1972). "Parnassioideae" pages 458-466 In: "The genera of Saxifragaceae in the southeastern United States" Journal of the Arnold Arboretum 53(4):409-498.
  6. ^ Adolf Engler (1930). "Saxifragaceae" In: Adolf Engler and Karl Prantl (eds.). Die Naturlichen Pflanzenfamilien, edition 2 vol.18a:178-182.
  7. ^ Daniel B. Ward and Angus K. Gholson (1987). "The hidden abundance of Lepuropetalon spathulatum(Saxifragaceae) and its first recorded occurrence in Florida". Castanea 52(1):59-67.
  8. ^ Ding Wu, Hong Wang, De-Zhu Li, and Steven Blackmore (2005). "Pollen Morphology of Parnassia L. (Parnassiaceae) and Its Systematic Implications". Journal of Integrative Plant Biology 47(1):2-12. doi:10.1111/j.1744-7909.2005.00008.x (see external links below).
  9. ^ Gu Cuizhi and Ulla-Maj Hultgård (2001). "Parnassia" In: Wu Zheng-yi and Peter H. Raven. Flora of China vol.8:358-379. Science Press: Beijing. Missouri Botanical Garden Press: St. Louis, MO, USA.
  10. ^ USDA Plants Database (see external links below)
  11. ^ Raymond B. Phillips (1982). "Systematics of Parnassia (Parnassiaceae): Generic overview and revision of North American taxa". Ph.D thesis. University of California at Berkeley.
  12. ^ Anthony Huxley, Mark Griffiths, and Margot Levy (1992). The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. The Macmillan Press,Limited: London. The Stockton Press: New York.