Flora of North America species comparison

Subspecies 2 (1 in the flora).

Within Piriqueta, P. cistoides has the widest distribution. Both subspecies show wide morphological variation; subsp. cistoides is homostylous and self compatible; subsp. caroliniana is distylous and self incompatible. In Cuba, Dominican Republic, and northern South America, intermediate specimens (10% of the total) cannot be assigned morphologically to one subspecies or the other. R. Ornduff (1970c) made crosses between and among the subspecies; he found no reproductive barriers among the different morphs of subsp. caroliniana; the fertility of the hybrids between both subspecies was higher than that of the hybrids among populations of subsp. cistoides. Subspecies cistoides has been reported from Georgia; the author has not seen specimens.

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)

Genera 10, species 226 (2 genera, 4 species in the flora).

The close relationships of Turneraceae with Passifloraceae, Malesherbiaceae, and Violaceae have long been recognized, especially by the presence of cyclopentenoid cyanogenic glycosides and cyclopentenyl fatty acids. These families have traditionally been positioned in Parietales or Violales with other taxa that have parietal placentation; analyses of DNA sequence data indicate that only a subset of the taxa with parietal placentation are closely related. The group that includes Turneraceae is embedded within Malpighiales (V. Savolainen et al. 2000b; D. E. Soltis et al. 2000; O. I. Nandi et al. 1998; M. W. Chase et al. 2002).

(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)