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| Asterids | |
|---|---|
| Name | Asterids |
| Kingdom | Plantae |
| Clade | Angiosperms |
| Clade1 | Eudicots |
| Clade2 | Core eudicots |
| Clade3 | Euasterids I and Euasterids II |
| Orders | ~100 |
Asterids The asterids are a large clade of Plantae within the Angiosperms and Eudicots, notable for floral and genetic traits that distinguish them from other Core eudicots. They encompass many economically and culturally important groups including taxa familiar from Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Americas, and they have been the subject of intensive study by researchers associated with institutions such as the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Smithsonian Institution. Systematics of the group has been shaped by contributions from scientists connected to the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, the International Botanical Congress, and research published in journals like Nature and Science.
Members of this clade typically share morphological and molecular characters used by taxonomists at institutions including the Royal Society and the Linnean Society of London. Diagnostic features often cited in treatments from the Kew Bulletin and the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society include sympetalous corollas, a single integument in ovules noted by researchers at the Smithsonian Institution, and iridoid compounds reported in phytochemical surveys by teams affiliated with the Max Planck Society. Floral zygomorphy, reduced stamen number, and ovary positions have been documented in monographs prepared by scholars from the New York Botanical Garden and the Australian National Herbarium. Molecular synapomorphies derived from plastid genes were highlighted in analyses from laboratories at Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley.
Classification has been driven by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) proposals ratified at meetings including the International Botanical Congress and published in outlets such as Taxon. Early morphology-based systems from figures like Carl Linnaeus and later syntheses by Augustin Pyramus de Candolle and George Bentham gave way to molecular frameworks advanced by researchers at Stanford University, the University of Oxford, and the University of Tokyo. Major phylogenetic studies using plastid loci and nuclear markers were performed by labs at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, resolving relationships among orders like those represented in the APG IV circumscription and discussed at conferences held by the International Society of Plant Molecular Biology.
Fossil pollen, leaf impressions, and compression fossils relevant to this clade have been described from strata studied by paleobotanists at the Smithsonian Institution and the Natural History Museum, London. Key finds in formations investigated by teams from Yale University and the University of Michigan informed divergence estimates calibrated against fossils used in studies published in PNAS and Nature Communications. Molecular clock analyses conducted by researchers affiliated with the University of Cambridge and the Weizmann Institute of Science suggest major radiations during the Cretaceous and Paleogene, paralleling events documented in the fossil record reported by the Geological Society of America.
The clade contains numerous orders and families well known to botanists at the New York Botanical Garden and horticulturalists at institutions like the Royal Horticultural Society. Prominent lineages include groups treated historically by botanists such as George Bentham and modern authors associated with the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. Taxa of economic and cultural prominence studied at institutions like the University of California, Davis and the University of Reading illustrate the clade’s breadth, with species examined in field programs run by the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Kew Expedition.
Species occur across continents and islands surveyed by expeditions sponsored by organizations such as the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Australian National Botanic Gardens. Habitats documented in floristic accounts produced by the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh range from tropical rainforests cited in studies from University of São Paulo to temperate woodlands recorded by researchers at the University of British Columbia. Biogeographic analyses undertaken by teams at the University of Chicago and the University of Queensland trace distributional patterns shaped by plate tectonics and climatic events featured in work by the American Geophysical Union.
Members include plants central to agriculture and horticulture investigated by scientists at the International Rice Research Institute, the USDA, and the Food and Agriculture Organization; they encompass ornamentals evaluated by the Royal Horticultural Society and crops improved at CIMMYT and ICRISAT. Ecological roles documented in studies from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology include pollinator interactions observed by researchers at the Xerces Society and seed dispersal dynamics analyzed by teams at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. Conservation assessments are coordinated with organizations such as the IUCN and conservation programs run by the World Wide Fund for Nature.
Morphological descriptions in floras prepared by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and the Missouri Botanical Garden emphasize characteristic floral structures examined in developmental studies at Harvard University and the University of California, Davis. Reproductive strategies, from selfing syndromes documented by researchers at the University of Sheffield to specialized pollination systems studied by scientists at the University of Exeter, reflect diversity reported in journals like New Phytologist and American Journal of Botany. Seed morphology and dispersal adaptations have been analyzed in comparative works from the Smithsonian Institution and the Natural History Museum, London.