Fagaceae

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Fagaceae

The family Fagaceae, or beech family, comprises about 900 species of both evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
and deciduous

Deciduous

Deciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe....
trees and shrubs, which are characterized by alternate simple leaves

Leaves

Leaves are an Iceland five-piece alternative rock band who formed in 2001. They came to prominence in 2002 with their debut album, Breathe, drawing comparisons to groups such as Coldplay and Doves....
with pinnate venation, unisexual flower

Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s in the form of catkin

Catkin

A catkin or ament is a slim, cylindrical flower cluster, with inconspicuous or no petals, usually wind-pollination but sometimes insect pollinated ....
s, and fruit in the form of cup-like (cupule

Cupule

The calybium and the cupule make up the accessory fruit of flowering plants in the family Fagaceae. These two parts derive from different flower components....
) nuts. Fagaceous leaves are often lobed and both petiole

Petiole (botany)

In botany, the petiole is the small stalk attaching the leaf blade to the Plant stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem....
s and stipule

Stipule

In botany, stipule is a term coined by Carolus Linnaeus which refers to outgrowths borne on either side of the base of a leafstalk . A pair of stipules is considered part of the anatomy of the leaf of a typical flowering plant, although in many species the stipules are inconspicuous or entirely absent ....
s are generally present. Fruits lack endosperm

Endosperm

Endosperm is the tissue produced in the seeds of most flowering plants around the time of fertilization. It surrounds the embryo and provides nutrition in the form of starch, though it can also contain Vegetable oils and protein....
and lie in a scaly or spiny husk that may or may not enclose the entire nut, which may consist of one to seven seeds.

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Encyclopedia

The family Fagaceae, or beech family, comprises about 900 species of both evergreen

Evergreen

In botany, an evergreen plant is a plant having leaf all year round. This contrasts with deciduous plants, which completely lose their foliage for part of the year....
and deciduous

Deciduous

Leaves

Flower

Catkin

Cupule

Petiole (botany)

In botany, the petiole is the small stalk attaching the leaf blade to the Plant stem. The petiole usually has the same internal structure as the stem....
s and stipule

Stipule

Endosperm

Oak

The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of about 400 species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus , which are listed in the List of Quercus species, and some related genera, notably Lithocarpus....
s, genus Quercus, the fruit of which is a non-valved nut (usually containing one seed) called an acorn. The husk of the acorn in most oaks only forms a cup in which the nut sits.

Several members of the Fagaceae have important economic uses. Many species of oak

Oak

Chestnut

Chestnut , is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the Beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate climate regions of the Northern Hemisphere....
, and beech

Beech

Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe and North America.The leaf of beech trees are entire or sparsely toothed, from 5–15 cm long and 4–10 cm broad....
(genera Quercus, Castanea, and Fagus respectively) are commonly used as timber for floors, furniture, cabinets, and wine barrels. Cork for stopping wine bottles and a myriad of other uses is made from the bark of cork oak, Quercus suber. Chestnut

Chestnut

Chestnut , is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the Beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate climate regions of the Northern Hemisphere....
s, a tasty treat enjoyed by many in the winter, are the fruits from species of the genus Castanea. Numerous species from several genera are prominent ornamentals, and wood chips from the genus Fagus
Fagus

Fagus may refer to:* Fagus , a god of beech trees in Celtic mythology, especially in Gaul and the Pyrenees.* Fagus, the genus of beeches, and its ten species such as Fagus crenata, Fagus longipetiolata, etc....
are often used in flavoring beers.

Classification

The Fagaceae are often divided into three or four subfamilies and are generally accepted to include nine or ten genera (listed below). Monophyly

Monophyly

In common cladistic usage, a monophyletic group is a clade, consisting of an ancestor and all its descendants. The term is synonymous with the uncommon term holophyly....
of the Fagaceae is strongly supported by both morphological

Morphology (biology)

The term morphology in biology refers to form, structure and configuration of an organism. This includes aspects of the outward appearance as well as the form and structure of the internal parts like bones and organs....
(especially fruit morphology) and molecular

Molecular phylogeny

Molecular phylogenetics, also known as molecular systematics, is the use of the structure of molecules to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships....
data.

The Southern Hemisphere genus Nothofagus
Nothofagus

Nothofagus, also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of about 35 species of trees and shrub native to the temperate oceanic to tropical Southern Hemisphere in southern South America and Australasia ....
, commonly the southern beeches, was historically placed in the Fagaceae sister to the genus Fagus
Fagus

Fagus may refer to:* Fagus , a god of beech trees in Celtic mythology, especially in Gaul and the Pyrenees.* Fagus, the genus of beeches, and its ten species such as Fagus crenata, Fagus longipetiolata, etc....
, but recent molecular evidence suggests otherwise. While Nothofagus shares a number of common characteristics with the Fagaceae, such as cupule fruit structure, it differs significantly in a number of ways including distinct stipule and pollen morphology as well as having a different number of chromosome

Chromosome

A chromosome is an organized structure of DNA and protein that is found in Cell . A chromosome is a single piece of DNA that contains many genes, regulatory sequence and other genetic sequence....
s. The currently accepted view by systematic botanists is to place Nothofagus in its own family, Nothofagaceae.

Genera

Castanea
Chestnut

Chestnut , is a genus of eight or nine species of deciduous trees and shrubs in the Beech family Fagaceae, native to temperate climate regions of the Northern Hemisphere....
- Chestnuts; eight species, north temperate east Asia, southwest Asia, southeast Europe, eastern North America
Castanopsis
Castanopsis

Castanopsis is a genus of evergreen trees belonging to the beech family, Fagaceae. The genus contains about 120 species, which are today restricted to tropical and subtropical eastern Asia....
- chinquapins or chinkapins about 125-130 species, southeast Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
Chrysolepis
Chrysolepis

Chrysolepis is a small genus in the beech family Fagaceae, endemic to the western United States, occurring from western Washington south to southern California....
- Golden chinkapins; two species, western USA
United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
Colombobalanus - one species C. excelsa, northern South America, often included in Trigonobalanus
Fagus
Beech

Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe and North America.The leaf of beech trees are entire or sparsely toothed, from 5–15 cm long and 4–10 cm broad....
- Beeches; 10 species, north temperate east Asia, southwest Asia, Europe, eastern North America
Formanodendron - one species F. doichangensis, southeast Asia, often included in Trigonobalanus
Lithocarpus
Lithocarpus

Lithocarpus is a genus in the beech family Fagaceae, differing from Oak in the erect male spikes. The Kew Checklist accepts 334 species, though some other texts suggest as low as 100 species....
- Tanoaks or Stone oaks; about 330-340 species, all but one in warm temperate to tropical Asia, the one (L. densiflorus) in California
California

California is a U.S. state on the West Coast of the United States of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. It is bordered by Oregon to the north, Nevada to the east, Arizona to the southeast, and to the south the Mexico state of Baja California....
and southwest Oregon
Oregon

Oregon is a U.S. state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The area was inhabited by many indigenous tribes before the arrival of traders, explorers and settlers....
Quercus
Oak

The term oak can be used as part of the common name of any of about 400 species of trees and shrubs in the genus Quercus , which are listed in the List of Quercus species, and some related genera, notably Lithocarpus....
- Oaks; about 500 species, widespread Northern Hemisphere
Northern Hemisphere

The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of the equator?the word sphere literally means 'half sphere'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator....
, crossing the equator
Equator

The equator is the intersection of the Earth's surface with the Plane perpendicular to the Earth's rotation and containing the Earth's center of mass....
in Indonesia
Indonesia

The Republic of Indonesia , is a transcontinental country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Comprising Islands of Indonesia, it is the world's largest Archipelago state....
Trigonobalanus
Trigonobalanus

Trigonobalanus is a genus of three species of evergreen trees in the family Fagaceae, related to beeches and chestnuts. The species are widely scattered, with one in northern South America and two in southeast Asia; some botanists treat the three species in separate genera....
- one species T. verticillata, tropical southeast Asia
Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
(three species if Colombobalanus and Formanodendron included)

The Quercus subgenus Cyclobalanopsis is treated as a distinct genus by the , but as a subgenus by most taxonomists.

The genus Nothofagus
Nothofagus

Nothofagus, also known as the southern beeches, is a genus of about 35 species of trees and shrub native to the temperate oceanic to tropical Southern Hemisphere in southern South America and Australasia ....
(Southern beeches; about 35 species from the Southern Hemisphere), formerly included in the Fagaceae, is now treated in the separate family Nothofagaceae.

Distribution

The Fagaceae are widely distributed across the Northern Hemisphere

Northern Hemisphere

The Northern Hemisphere is the half of a planet that is north of the equator?the word sphere literally means 'half sphere'. It is also that half of the celestial sphere north of the celestial equator....
. Genus-level diversity is concentrated in Southeast Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent. It covers 8.6% of the Earth's total surface area and, with over 4 billion people, it contains more than 60% of the world's current human population....
, where most of the extant genera are thought to have evolved before migrating to Europe

Europe

Europe is, conventionally, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural , the Caspian Sea, and by the Caucasus Mountains to the southeast....
and North America

North America

North America is the northern continent of the Americas, situated in the Earth's northern hemisphere and almost totally in the western hemisphere....
(via the Bering Land Bridge

Bering land bridge

The Bering land bridge was a land bridge roughly 1,000 miles north to south at its greatest extent, which joined present-day Alaska and eastern Siberia at various times during the Pleistocene ice ages....
). Members of the Fagaceae (such as Fagus grandifolia, Castanea dentata and Quercus alba in the Northeastern United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, or Fagus sylvatica, Quercus robur and Q. petraea in Europe) are often ecologically dominant in Northern temperate forest

Temperate forest

Temperate forests are forests in the temperate climate zones. They include:* Temperate deciduous forest* Temperate broadleaf and mixed forests...
s.

External links

Diagnostic photos of many species at The Morton Arboretum
Morton Arboretum

The Morton Arboretum, in Lisle, Illinois, Illinois, covers 1,700 acres and is made up of gardens of various plant types and collections of trees from specific taxonomical and geographical areas....