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Laurel family🌿
Lauraceae
クスノキ科
A family including camphor tree, cinnamon, avocado, and bay laurel. Many species are rich in essential oils and aromatic compounds, important for spices, food, and medicine. An ancient lineage belonging to the basal angiosperm group (Magnoliids).
Key Characteristics
- ●Leaves and bark often possess distinctive aromas
- ●No differentiation between petals and sepals; 6 tepals
- ●Fruit is a drupe or berry (single-seeded)
- ●Mostly evergreen
Morphological Traits
A family may include species with different trait values — multiple values indicate the range within the family.
Leaf arrangement
Alternate / Opposite / Whorled
Leaf type
Simple
Venation
Pinnate
Leaf margin
Entire
Growth form
Shrub / Tree
Evergreen/Deciduous
Evergreen
Leaf dissection
Dissected / Undivided
Stipules
Absent
Aromatic
Aromatic
Flower symmetry
Actinomorphic
Petal count
4 petals / 6 petals
Petal fusion
Free / Fused
Ovary position
Inferior / Superior
Stamen count
3-4
Plant sex
Dioecious / Hermaphrodite / Monoecious
Phylogenetic Position
Angiosperms > Magnoliids > Laurales > Lauraceae
Divergence Era
Early Cretaceous (approx. 120 million years ago onward)
Representative Genera
Related Evolution Events
- ・Retention of ancestral traits as a basal angiosperm group
- ・Diverse evolution of essential oil compounds