In this article, "Ochnaceae" will refer to the larger circumscription of the family, which is otherwise known as Ochnaceae sensu lato or as the ochnoids.[7] In this sense the family includes 32 genera with about 550 species.[8]
Ochnaceae, defined broadly or narrowly, is pantropical in distribution, with a few species cultivated outside of this range. Ochnaceae is most diverse in the neotropics, with a second center of diversity in tropical Africa.[5] It consists mostly of shrubs and small trees, and, in Sauvagesia, a few herbaceous species. Many are treelets, with a single, erect trunk, but low in height. The Ochnaceae are notable for their unusual leaves. These are usually shiny, with closely spaced, parallel veins, toothed margins, and conspicuous stipules. Most of the species are buzz pollinated.[9] In eight of the genera in tribe Sauvagesieae, the flower changes form after opening, by continued growth of tissue within the flower.[5]
A great many genus names have been published in Ochnaceae.[16] In a taxonomic revision of Ochnaceae, as three families, in 2014, only 32 of these genera were accepted; one in Medusagynaceae, four in Quiinaceae, and 27 in Ochnaceae s.s.[4] In that same year, a 33rd genus, Neckia, was reestablished in order to preserve the monophyly of another genus, Sauvagesia.[5]
The largest genera in Ochnaceae are: Ouratea (200 species), Ochna (85), Campylospermum (65), Sauvagesia (39), and Quiina (34).[4] None of the larger genera has been the subject of a phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences of selected genes. In one study of the subfamily Quiinoideae, based on the trn L-Fintergenic spacer, only nine species were sampled from this subfamily.[17]
^Vernon H. Heywood, Richard K. Brummitt, Ole Seberg, and Alastair Culham. Flowering Plant Families of the World. Firefly Books: Ontario, Canada. (2007). ISBN978-1-55407-206-4.
^ abcdJulio V. Schneider, Pulcherie Bissiengou, Maria do Carmo E. Amaral, Ali Tahir, Michael F. Fay, Marco Thines, Marc S.M. Sosef, Georg Zizka, and Lars W. Chatrou. 2014. "Phylogenetics, ancestral state reconstruction, and a new infrafamilial classification of the pantropical Ochnaceae (Medusagynaceae, Ochnaceae s.str., Quiinaceae) based on five DNA regions". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution78:199-214. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2014.05.018.
^Zhenxiang Xi, Brad R. Ruhfel, Hanno Schaefer, André M. Amorim, Manickam Sugumaran, Kenneth J. Wurdack, Peter K. Endress, Merran L. Matthews, Peter F. Stevens, Sarah Mathews, and Charles C. Davis. 2012. "Phylogenomics and a posteriori data partitioning resolve the Cretaceous angiosperm radiation Malpighiales". PNAS (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America) 109(43):17519-17524. doi:10.1073/pnas.1205818109. (See External links below).
^Kenneth J. Wurdack; Charles C. Davis (2009), "Malpighiales phylogenetics: Gaining ground on one of the most recalcitrant clades in the angiosperm tree of life", American Journal of Botany, 96 (8): 1551–1570, doi:10.3732/ajb.0800207, PMID21628300, S2CID23284896
^Paul A. De Luca and Mario Vallejo-Marin. 2013. "What's the buzz about? The ecology and evolutionary significance of buzz pollination". Current Opinion in Plant Biology 16(4):429-435. doi:10.1016/j.pbi.2013.05.002.
^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. ISBN978-0-333-47494-5 (set).
^Warren L. Wagner, Derral R. Herbst, and Sy H. Sohmer. Manual of the Flowering Plants of Hawaii, Revised Edition, 1999. Bishop Museum Press: Hololulu
^David J. Mabberley. 2008. Mabberley's Plant-Book third edition (2008). Cambridge University Press: UK. ISBN978-0-521-82071-4 (See External links below).
^Peter K. Endress. 2011. "Evolutionary diversification of the flowers in angiosperms". American Journal of Botany98(3):370-396. doi:10.3732/ajb.1000299. (See External links below).
^Daniel Danehy, Peter Wilf, and Stefan A. Little. 2007. "Early Eocene macroflora from the red hot truck stop locality (Meridian, Mississippi, USA)". Palaeontologia Electronica10(3):17A:31pages. (See External links below).
^Susana Magallon, Khidir W. Hilu, and Dietmar Quandt. 2013. "Land plant evolutionary timeline: Gene effects are secondary to fossil constraints in relaxed clock estimation of age and substitution rates". American Journal of Botany100(3):556-573. doi:10.3732/ajb.1200416. (See External links below).
^The Plant List: Ochnaceae. (See External links below).
^Julio V. Schneider, Ulf Swenson, Rosabelle Samuel, Tod Stuessy, and Georg Zizka. 2006. "Phylogenetics of Quiinaceae (Malpighiales): evidence from trnL-trnF sequence data and morphology". Plant Systematics and Evolution257(3-4):189-203. doi:10.1007/s00606-005-0386-5.