Aristolochiaceae

Description

They are mostly perennial, herbaceous plants, shrubs, or lianas. The membranous, cordate simple leaves are spread out, growing alternately along the stem on leaf stalks. The margins are commonly entire. No stipules are present. The flowers are large to medium-sized, growing in the leaf axils. They are bilaterally or radially symmetrical.

Classification

Aristolochiaceae are magnoliids, a basal group of angiosperms which are not part of the large categories of monocots or eudicots. As of APG IV (2016), the former families Hydnoraceae and Lactoridaceae are included, because exclusion would make Aristolochiaceae in the traditional sense paraphyletic.

Some newer classification schemes, such as the update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, place the family Aristolochiaceae in the order Piperales, but it is still quite common, though superseded, for the Aristolochiaceae to be assigned, sometimes with some other families, their own order (Aristolochiales).

Phylogeny

Eight genera are accepted – Aristolochia, Asarum, Euglypha, Hydnora, Lactoris, Prosopanche, Saruma, and Thottea.

Four assemblages can be distinguished in the genus-level cladogram of Aristolochiaceae:

• Aristolochia is closely related to Thottea.
• Hydnora is closely related to Prosopanche.
• Lactoris occupies an isolated position.
• Asarum is closely related to Saruma, and both genera display a deep-branching position in the family.

Phytochemistry

Many members of Aristolochia and some of Asarum contain the toxin aristolochic acid, which discourages herbivores and is known to be carcinogenic in rats. Aristolochia species are carcinogenic to humans.

Genomics

The complete plastid genome sequence of one species of Aristolochiaceae, Hydnora visseri, has been determined. As compared to the chloroplast genome of its closest photosynthetic relatives, the plastome of Hydnora visseri shows extreme reduction in both size (ca. 27 kilo base pairs) and gene content (24 genes appear to be functional). This Aristolochiaceae species therefore possesses one of the smallest plastid genomes among flowering plants.

Ecology

Pipevine swallowtail butterflies lay their eggs on pipevine (Aristolochia species), and the larvae feed on the plant, but are not affected by the toxin, which then offers the adult butterfly protection against predators.

Fossil record

The earliest records of the family are the fossil seeds of †Aristospermum huberi and †Siratospermum mauldinense from the Early Cretaceous of Portugal and Virginia, United States. Fossil leaf remains of †Aristolochia austriaca have been described from Late Miocene sediments of the Pellendorf site at the Vienna Basin in Austria. †A. austriaca is most similar to the extant Mediterranean species A. rotunda and A. baetica.

References

References

1. "Piperales".
2. Friis, Else Marie. (2022-09-01). "Early and Mid-Cretaceous Aristolochiaceous Seeds from Portugal and Eastern North America". International Journal of Plant Sciences.
3. Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. (2016). "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG IV". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society.
4. [https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30000909-2 ''Aristolochiaceae'' Juss.] ''[[Plants of the World Online]]''. Retrieved 18 January 2024.
5. Stevens, P.F.. (2001). "ARISTOLOCHIACEAE Jussieu".
6. (2007-04-12). "Family: ''Aristolochiaceae'' Juss., nom. cons.". United States Department of Agriculture.
7. "GRIN Genera of ''Aristolochiaceae'' subfam. ''Asaroideae''". United States Department of Agriculture.
8. "GRIN Genera of ''Aristolochiaceae'' subfam. ''Aristolochioideae''". United States Department of Agriculture.
9. (2016-02-01). "Detecting and Characterizing the Highly Divergent Plastid Genome of the Nonphotosynthetic Parasitic Plant ''Hydnora visseri'' (Hydnoraceae)". Genome Biology and Evolution.
10. [[List of sequenced plastomes#Flowering plants. List of sequenced plastomes: Flowering plants.]]
11. The oldest fossil leaf remains are of †''Aristolochites dentata'' from the [[Late Cretaceous]] of [[Nebraska]]. [[Pollen]] record of †''Aristolochiacidites viluiensis'' has been described from [[Upper Cretaceous]] sediments of [[Siberia]]. [[Fossil]] wood is known from the [[Deccan Traps]] of [[India]] some 66 million years ago. Leaf fossils of ''[[Aristolochia]]'' are known from the Early and Late [[Tertiary period. Tertiary]] of [[North America]] and the Late [[Tertiary period. Tertiary]] of [[Abkhazia]], [[Ukrainia]] and [[Poland]].Evolution and Diversification of Land Plants by Kunio Iwatsuki and Peter H. Raven, Springer Science & Business Media, 6. des. 2012
12. The first fossil Aristolochia (Aristolochiaceae, Piperales) leaves from Austria by Barbara Meller, Article number: 17.2.21A, https://doi.org/10.26879/420, Palaeontological Association, May 2014