Schisandraceae is a family of flowering plants with 3 known genera and a total of 92 known species. Such a family has been recognized by most taxonomists, at least for the past several decades. Before that, the plants concerned were assigned to family Magnoliaceae and Illiciaceae.
The APG IV and APG III systems of taxonomy recognize this family and place it on the order Austrobaileyales.
The APG II system, of 2003, also recognizes such a family. It places the family in order Austrobaileyales, which in turn is accepted as being among the most basic lineages in the clade angiosperms. APG II assumes this to be a family of three genera, the Schisandraceae sensu lato. This family consists of woody plants, containing essential oils.
However, APG II does allow the option of segregating the genus Illicium as the family Illiciaceae. This leaves only two genera in the family Schisandraceae sensu stricto, consisting of Schisandra and Kadsura, totalling several dozen species, which are found in tropical to temperate regions of East and Southeast Asia and North America.
The APG system, of 1998, recognized both the families Schisandraceae sensu stricto and Illiciaceae, unplaced as to order. It regarded both families as being among the most basic lineages in the clade angiosperms.
The Cronquist system, of 1981, treated the plants in the family (in its wider sense) as two separate families, which together constituted the order Illiciales, in subclass Magnoliidae, in class Magnoliopsida [=dicotyledons], of division Magnoliophyta [=angiosperms].
Genera Image Genus Living species Kadsura Kadsura acsmithii - Borneo Kadsura angustifolia - Guangxi, Vietnam Kadsura borneensis - Sabah Kadsura celebica - Sulawesi Kadsura coccinea - S China, N Indochina Kadsura heteroclita - China, Indian subcontinent, Indochina, Borneo, Sumatra Kadsura induta - Yunnan, Guangxi, Vietnam Kadsura japonica - Japan, Korea, Nansei-shoto, Taiwan Kadsura lanceolata - Malaysia, Borneo, Sumatra, Sulawesi, Maluku Kadsura longipedunculata - China Kadsura marmorata - Borneo, Philippines Kadsura oblongifolia - Guangxi, Guangdong, Hainan Kadsura philippinensis - Philippines Kadsura renchangiana - Guangxi Kadsura scandens - Pen Malaysia, Sumatra, Java, Bali Kadsura verrucosa - Laos, Vietnam, Pen Malaysia, Sumatra, Java Illicium Illicium angustisepalum - S China Illicium anisatum – Japan, South Korea, Taiwan Illicium arborescens - Taiwan Illicium brevistylum - Guangdong, Guangxi, Hunan, Yunnan Illicium burmanicum - Yunnan, Myanmar Illicium cubense - Cuba Illicium difengpi - Guangxi Illicium dunnianum - S China Illicium floridanum- United States (FL GA AL MS LA) Illicium griffithii - Tibet, Bhutan, Arunachal Pradesh Illicium guajaibonense - Cuba Illicium henryi - S China Illicium jiadifengpi - S China Illicium lanceolatum - S China Illicium leiophyllum - Hong Kong Illicium macranthum - Yunnan Illicium majus - S China, Vietnam, Myanmar Illicium merrillianum - Yunnan, Myanmar Illicium mexicanum - Veracruz Illicium micranthum - Yunnan Illicium modestum - Yunnan Illicium pachyphyllum - Guangxi Illicium parviflorum – yellow anise - United States (FL GA SC) Illicium petelotii - Yunnan, Vietnam Illicium philippinense - Philippines, Taiwan Illicium simonsii - S China, Assam, Myanmar Illicium tashiroi - Taiwan, Nansei-shoto Illicium tenuifolium - Vietnam Illicium ternstroemioides - Fujian, Hainan Illicium tsaii - Yunnan Illicium verum – star anise, Chinese star-anise, staranise tree - Guangxi Illicium wardii - Yunnan, Myanmar Schisandra Schisandra arisanensis - S China incl Taiwan Schisandra bicolor - Guangxi, Hunan, Yunnan, Zhejiang Schisandra chinensis - Russian Far East, NE China, Korea, Japan Schisandra elongata - Java Schisandra glabra - Hidalgo, United States (LA AR MS AL TN KY GA FL SC NC) Schisandra glaucescens - Chongqing, Hubei Schisandra grandiflora - Tibet, Sikkim, Nepal, Bhutan, Assam, Uttarakhand Schisandra henryi - S China Schisandra incarnata - Hubei Schisandra lancifolia - Sichuan, Yunnan Schisandra longipes - Guangdong, Guangxi Schisandra macrocarpa - Yunnan Schisandra micrantha - Manipur, Yunnan, Myanmar Schisandra neglecta - Sikkim, Nepal, Bhutan, Assam, Myanmar, Yunnan Schisandra parapropinqua - Guizhou, Yunnan Schisandra perulata - Thailand, Vietnam Schisandra plena - Arunachal Pradesh, Yunnan Schisandra propinqua - China, Assam, Nepal, Myanmar, Thailand, Java, Bali Schisandra pubescens - Sichuan, Hubei Schisandra pubinervis - Hubei, Sichuan Schisandra repanda - Korea, Japan Schisandra rubriflora - Arunachal Pradesh, Yunnan, Myanmar, Sichuan Schisandra sphaerandra - Sichuan, Yunnan Schisandra sphenanthera - China Schisandra tomentella - Sichuan
Pollination Schisandaceae are pollinated predominantly by nocturnal gall midges that lay their eggs in the male and female flowers (in Schisandraceae species with unisexual flowers) or the male-stage and female-stage flowers (in species with bisexual flowers). The larvae of these midges develop in the floral tissue once it has dropped to the ground, feeding on floral exudates (not ovules or pollen).
References
External links Schisandraceae [sensu stricto] in the Flora of North America NCBI Taxonomy Browser [Schisandraceae sensu lato]
Luo, S-X., L-J. Zhang, S. Yuan, Z-H. Ma, D-X. Zhang, and S. S. Renner. 2018. The largest early-diverging angiosperm family is mostly pollinated by ovipositing insects and so are most surviving lineages of early angiosperms. Proc. Roy. Soc. B 285: 20172365;