Scientific name Berberidaceae Rank Family | ||
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Lower classifications Barberry, Nandina, Barrenwort, Oregon Grape, Podophyllum | ||
The Berberidaceae are a family of 14 genera flowering plants commonly called the barberry family. This family is in the order Ranunculales. The family contains about 700 known species, of which the majority are in Berberis. The species include trees, shrubs and perennial herbaceous plants.
Genera
The APG II system of 2003 (unchanged from the APG system of 1998) recognises the family and places it in the order Ranunculales in the clade eudicots.
In some older treatments of the family, Berberidaceae only included four genera (Berberis, Epimedium, Mahonia, Vancouveria), with the other genera treated in separate families, Leonticaceae (Bongardia, Caulophyllum, Gymnospermium, Leontice), Nandinaceae (Nandina), and Podophyllaceae (Achlys, Diphylleia, Dysosma, Jeffersonia, Podophyllum, Ranzania).
Mahonia is very closely related to Berberis, and most botanists now include it in Berberis. Species in the two genera can be hybridised, with the hybrids being classified in the (now superfluous) hybrid genus × Mahoberberis. Diphyllaea is closely related or perhaps paraphyletic or embedded in Podophyllum, and instead of the current trend to subdivide Podophyllum into Dysosma and Sinopodophyllum, inclusion of Diphyllaea in Podophyllum is equally warranted.
