Loganiaceae

Loganiaceae
Temporal range: Early Miocene to Recent, 22–0 Ma
Strychnos nux-vomica
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Loganiaceae
R.Br. ex Mart.[1]
Genera

See text

Synonyms[1]
  • Antoniaceae Hutch.
  • Geniostomataceae Struwe & V.A.Albert
  • Spigeliaceae Bercht. & J.Presl
  • Strychnaceae DC. ex Perleb

The Loganiaceae are a family of flowering plants classified in order Gentianales. The family includes up to 13 genera, distributed around the world's tropics. There are not any great morphological characteristics to distinguish these taxa from others in the order Gentianales.

Many members of the Loganiaceae are extremely poisonous, causing death by convulsion. Poisonous properties are largely due to alkaloids such as those found in Strychnos. Glycosides are also present as loganin in Strychnos.[2]

Earlier treatments of the family have included up to 29 genera. Phylogenetic studies have demonstrated that this broadly defined Loganiaceae was a polyphyletic assemblage, and numerous genera have been removed from Loganiaceae to other families (sometimes in other orders), e.g., Gentianaceae, Gelsemiaceae, Plocospermataceae, Tetrachondraceae, Buddlejaceae, and Gesneriaceae. Some classification schemes, notably Takhtajan's, break the remaining Loganiaceae even further, into as many as four families; Strychnaceae, Antoniaceae, Spigeliaceae and Loganiaceae.

  1. ^ a b "Family: Loganiaceae R. Br. ex Mart., nom. cons". Germplasm Resources Information Network. United States Department of Agriculture. 2003-01-17. Archived from the original on 2012-10-10. Retrieved 2010-12-15.
  2. ^ Flowering Plants of the World by consultant editor Vernon H. Heywood, 1978, Oxford University Press, Walton Street, Oxford OX2 6DP, England, ISBN 019217674-9