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| Malvales
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Alcea setosa | ||||||||
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Malvaceae ( mallows,...) Dipterocarpaceae Sarcolaenaceae Cistaceae Muntingiaceae Bixaceae Diegodendraceae Cochlospermaceae Sphaerosepalaceae Thymelaeaceae Neuradaceae
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The order accounts for about 6000 species in nine families. The dominant family is the extended Malvaceae with over 4000 species, followed by Thymelaeaceae with 750 species.
The morphology of Malvales is diverse, and there are few common properties. Among most commonly encountered characteristics one can mention palmate or palmately lobed leaves, connate sepals, a specific structure and chemical composition of the seeds. The cortex is often fibrous, built of soft phloem layers.
Many Malvales species are known for their wood, of exceptional quality and lightness (namely Ochroma, Edgeworthia, Tilia, Thymelaea and Daphne). The cacao tree (Theobroma cacao) is used as an ingredient for chocolate. Kola nuts (genus Cola) are notable for their high content of caffeineCaffeine is an alkaloid found naturally in such foods as coffee beans, tea, kola nuts, Yerba mate, guarana, and (in small amounts) cacao beans. It is added to some soft drinks such as colas and Mountain Dew. Caffeine has a characteristic intensely bitter, and in past were commonly used for preparing of various cola drinks.
Newer systems place Malvaceae among the rosid group of dicotyledons.
The Malvaceae is taken to include the older families Bombaceae , Sterculiaceae , and Tiliaceae . Under the older Cronquist systemThe Cronquist system is a scheme for the classification of flowering plants (or angiosperms). This system was developed by Arthur Cronquist in his texts An Integrated System of Classification of Flowering Plants (1981) and The Evolution and Classification, the order contained only these four families and the Elaeocarpaceae , and was placed among the Dilleniidae . Some of the current families were placed by Cronquist in the ViolalesViolales : Plantae : Magnoliophyta : Magnoliopsida : Dilleniidae : Violales Families see text Violales used to be an order of flowering plants in the Cronquist classification. In the newer angiosperm classifications (e. APG II, 2003) it is no longer used..