Phrymaceae (Schauer 1847), also known as the Lopseed family, is a small plant family in the order Lamiales. It now consists of about 190 species, distributed worldwide but with the majority in western North America (about 130 species) and Australia (about 30 species).
Previously, this family was monotypic with the genus Phryma, and limited in geographic range to eastern North America and eastern China. This genus was previously placed by Cronquis...
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Phrymaceae (Schauer 1847), also known as the Lopseed family, is a small plant family in the order Lamiales. It now consists of about 190 species, distributed worldwide but with the majority in western North America (about 130 species) and Australia (about 30 species).
Previously, this family was monotypic with the genus Phryma, and limited in geographic range to eastern North America and eastern China. This genus was previously placed by Cronquist in the verbena family Verbenaceae.
New research of phylogenetic relationships (Beardsley & Olmstead, 2002) has revealed that several genera, traditionally included in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae, are actually more closely related to the newly defined and expanded Phrymaceae. A more recent paper has suggested that the genus Rehmannia is closely related to Mazus and Lancea, but has also cast doubt on the inclusion of these genera in Phrymaceae.
The family Phrymaceae is mainly defined by the following three characteristics:
Members of...
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