Fabales

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

iFabales

Scientific classification

Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Fabales Bromhead

Families

Fabaceae (legumes)
Quillajaceae
Polygalaceae (milkwort family)
Surianaceae

Fabales is an order of flowering plants. It is included in the rosid group of the eudicots in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II classification system. In the APG II circumscription this order includes the families Fabaceae or legumes (including the Caesalpiniaceae, Mimosaceae, and Papilionaceae), Quillajaceae, Polygalaceae or milkworts (including the Diclidantheraceae, Moutabeaceae, and Xanthophyllaceae), and Surianaceae. Under the Cronquist system and some other plant classification systems, the order Fabales contains only the family Fabaceae. The other families treated in the Fabales by the APG II classification were placed in separate orders by Cronquist, the Polygalaceae within its own order, the Polygalales, and the Quillajaceae and Surianaceae within the Rosales.

The Fabaceae, as the third largest plant family in the world, contains most of the diversity of the Fabales, the other families making up a comparatively small portion of the order's diversity. Research in the order is largely focused on the Fabaceae, due in part to its great biological diversity, and to its importance as food plants. The Polygalaceae is fairly well researched among plant families, in part due to the large diversity of the genus Polygala, and also due to members of the family, like the Fabaceae, being food plants for various Lepidoptera species.<ref>Janz, N, S Nylin (1998). "Butterflies and plants: A phylogenetic study". Evolution 52 (2): 486-502. Retrieved on 21 November 2006.</ref><ref>DeVries, PJ, AI Chacon (1992). "Toward a better understanding of host use and biodiversity in riodinid butterflies". Journal of Research on the Lepidoptera 31 (1-2): 103-126. Retrieved on 21 November 2006.</ref> While taxonomists using molecular phylogentic techniques find strong support for the order, it should be noted that there remain questions about the morphological relationships of the Quillajaceae and Surianaceae to the rest of the order, due in part to limited research on these families.<ref>Morgan, DR, Soltis, DE, Robertson KR (July 1994). "Systematic and evolutionary implications of rbcL sequence variation in Rosaceae". American Journal of Botany 81 (7): 890-903. DOI:10.2307/2445770.</ref>

[edit] Distribution

The Fabales are a cosmopolitan order of plants, except that only the subfamilies Faboideae and Papilionoideae of the Fabaceae are well dispersed throughout the northern part of the North Temperate Zone.<ref>Stevens, PF (07 May 2006). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved on 20 November 2006.</ref>