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Betulaceae

Classification  Kingdom: Plantae Division: Magnoliophyta Class: Magnoliopsida Order Type: Eudicots-Rosids I Order: Fagales Family: Betulaceae Family Common Name: Birch Family Genera: Betula, Corylus Defining Features: The family has three tribes that have been separated into families by some botanists. Nitrogen fixation occurs in the nodules on the roots of some genera such as Alnus. Defining Morphology: Floral Features: Plants are monoecious. Flowers are small, unisexual, actinomorphic and as a catkin, the male as a pendulous ament, the female in cymes. Both are apetalous. Bracts subtend the female flowers. Ovary is inferior with axile placentation. Fruit and Seed Features: Dicotyledon. Fruit a nut or winged samara with a large, subtending or enclosing bract. Endosperm is lacking. Vegetative Features: Habit as trees or shrubs. Leaves are simple and alternate with doubly serrate margin and pinnate veins. Stipules are present. Distribution: Cool temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, Sumatra and in the South American Andes. Economic Use: An important source of wood and wood pulp and as ornamentals. Number of Genera Globally: 6 Number of Species Globally: 157

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File last updated: 2011.

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