Tuesday 28 July 2020

Fabaceae

the Fabaceae or Leguminosae, commonly known as the legume, pea, or bean family, are a large and economically important family of flowering plants. It includes trees, shrubs, and perennial or annual herbaceous plants, which are easily recognized by their fruit (legume) and their compound, stipulate leaves. Many legumes have characteristic flowers and fruits. 

The family is widely distributed, and is the third-largest land plant family in number of species, behind only the Orchidaceae and Asteraceae, with about 751 genera and more than 20,000 known species.

The Fabaceae are placed in the order Fabales according to most taxonomic systems, including the APG III system.  The family now includes six subfamilies:
Cercidoideae: 12 genera and ~335 species.  
Detarioideae: 84 genera and ~760 species.    
Duparquetioideae: 1 genus and 1 species.  
Dialioideae: 17 genera and ~85 species.  
Caesalpinioideae: 148 genera and ~4400 species.  
Faboideae (Papilionoideae): 503 genera and ~14,000 species.  



































































The Legume Phylogeny Working Group, Hawkins, J. A. and Mattapha, S. (2017)  A new subfamily classification of the Leguminosae based on a taxonomically comprehensive phylogeny. Taxon, 66 (1). pp. 44­77. ISSN 0040­0262 .https://doi.org/10.12705/661.3.   http://centaur.reading.ac.uk/69376/ 

López-Romero, J. 2019. Sinopsis del género Chamaecrista en Colombia. Pp. 165-246. En: Forero, E. & C. Castellanos (eds.),Estudios en Leguminosas Colombianas III. Biblioteca Jorge Álvarez Lleras Nº 37. Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales, Colombia.  https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337884782_Colombian_Legume_Genera_and_their_Placement_in_the_New_Six_Subfamily_Classification_of_Leguminosae





Asteraceae


Asteraceae or Compositae (commonly referred to as the aster, daisy, composite,or sunflower family), is a very large and widespread family of flowering plants (Angiospermae).

The family includes over 32,000 currently accepted species, in over 1,900 genera  in 13 subfamilies.

Nearly all Asteraceae bear their flowers in dense heads (capitula or pseudanthia) surrounded by involucral bracts. When viewed from a distance, each capitulum may appear to be a single flower. Enlarged outer (peripheral) flowers in the capitula may resemble petals, and the involucral bracts may look like a calyx. The name Asteraceae comes from the type genus Aster, from the Ancient Greek ἀστήρ, meaning star, and refers to the star-like form of the inflorescence.

 


Monday 27 July 2020

Acanthus in Roman Architecture

Acanthus is a genus of about 30 species of flowering plants in the family Acanthaceae, native to tropical and warm temperate regions, with the highest species diversity in the Mediterranean Basin and Asia.

The generic name derives from the Greek term ἄκανθος (akanthos) .

 




In architecture, stone or wood ornaments were carved to resemble leaves from the Mediterranean species of the Acanthus plants, which have deeply cut leaves.  Both A. mollis and A. spinosus have been claimed as the main model.

 

In ancient Roman and ancient Greek architecture Acanthus ornament appears extensively in the capitals of the Corinthian and Composite orders, and applied to friezes, dentils and other decorated areas.  The oldest known example of a Corinthian column is in the Temple of Apollo Epicurius at Bassae in Arcadia ( c 450–420 BC ).

 


Acanthus decoration continued in popularity in Byzantine, Romanesque, and Gothic architecture. It saw a major revival in the Renaissance, and still is used today.