Lauraceae

Thesaurus

Noun

Lauraceae - a family of Lauraceaefamily Lauraceae, laurel familymagnoliid dicot family - family of dicotyledonous flowering plants regarded as among the most primitive of extant angiospermsorder Ranales, order Ranunculales, Ranales, Ranunculales - herbs, shrubs and trees: includes families Ranunculaceae; Annonaceae; Berberidaceae; Magnoliaceae; Menispermaceae; Myristicaceae; Nymphaeaceae; Lardizabalaceae; Lauraceae; Calycanthaceae; Ceratophyllaceae; Cercidiphyllaceaelaurel - any of various aromatic trees of the laurel familygenus Laurus, Laurus - small evergreen trees or shrubs with aromatic leavesCinnamomum, genus Cinnamomum - Asiatic and Australian aromatic trees and shrubsgenus Lindera, Lindera - aromatic evergreen or deciduous dioecious shrubs or trees of eastern Asia and North Americagenus Benzoin, Benzoin - used in some classifications for the American spicebush and certain other plants often included in the genus Linderagenus Persea, Persea - avocadogenus Sassafras - a genus of sassafrasgenus Umbellularia, Umbellularia - aromatic evergreen trees of Pacific coast

Lauraceae

[lȯ′rās·ē‚ē] (botany) The laurel family of the order Magnoliales distinguished by definite stamens in series of three, a single pistil, and the lack of petals.

Lauraceae

a family of dicotyledonous plants. They are trees and shrubs and, rarely, parasitic herbs. The simple leaves are generally leathery and persistent; as a rule, they are alternate and exstipulate. The flowers are three-parted (more rarely five-or two-parted), bisexual (sometimes unisexual), regular, small, and racemose. The ovary is superior; very rarely is it inferior. The fruit is a monospermous berry or drupe and is often surrounded by a fleshy floral tubule. The leaves, bark, and other parts of many plants of this family have glands that contain essential oils.

There are 40 to 50 genera (over 2,000 species) of Lauraceae, distributed predominantly in the tropics; they are less frequently encountered in the subtropics. Only a few genera are found in temperate regions, where they had been widely distributed in the Tertiary period. The Lauraceae include the genera Cinnamomum (including the camphor tree), Laurus, and Sassafras, as well as other useful plants. Many species of Lauraceae yield spices (bay leaves and cinnamon), edible fruits (avocado), camphor, essential oils, medicinal substances, wood for construction and the manufacture of small articles, and other valuable products.

REFERENCES

Hutchinson, I. The Genera of Flowering Plants, vol. 1. Oxford, 1964.

Lauraceae

Related to Lauraceae: Myrsinaceae, Santalaceae, Platanaceae, Magnoliales

noun

Synonyms for Lauraceae

noun a family of Lauraceae

Synonyms

family Lauraceae
laurel family

Related Words

magnoliid dicot family
order Ranales
order Ranunculales
Ranales
Ranunculales
laurel
genus Laurus
Laurus
Cinnamomum
genus Cinnamomum
genus Lindera
Lindera
genus Benzoin
Benzoin
genus Persea
Persea
genus Sassafras
genus Umbellularia
Umbellularia