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Lauraceae (cinnamon, avocado, stinkwood family)
Life
> eukaryotes >
Archaeoplastida >
Chloroplastida
>
Charophyta > Streptophytina > Plantae (land plants)
> Tracheophyta (vascular plants) > Euphyllophyta > Lignophyta (woody plants)
> Spermatophyta (seed plants) > Angiospermae (flowering
plants) > magnoliids > Order: Laurales
About 50 genera and 2500 species worldwide (mainly
tropics and subtropics), with four genera and 12 species native to southern Africa,
one genus and two species that are naturalised, and a further four genera and 12
species that are cultivated in the region. The family includes
Avocado,
Cinnamon, Bay laurel (yielding bay
leaves) and Stinkwood.
Genera native to southern Africa
List from Jordaan (2000).
Cassytha
(False dodder) Of the total of 17
species, 14 are native to Australia and three to Africa of which two
occur in southern Africa. There is also an introduced, naturalised species
in southern Africa. Parasitic plants that form a network of entwining,
yellow tendrils over shrubs and trees. |
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Cryptocarya About 350 species worldwide (pantropical, mainly
Indo-Malayan), with seven species native to southern Africa. |
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Dahlgrenodendron
One species: Dahlgrenodendron natalense, native to the Eastern Cape
and
KwaZulu-Natal. |
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Ocotea
(Stinkwood genus) About 300 species worldwide (mainly tropical and
subtropical America, also Madagascar, Africa and one in the Canary Islands), of
which two are native to southern Africa and a further species is cultivated in
the region. |
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Genera naturalised in southern Africa
Litsea
About 400 species worldwide (mainly Asia, also Australia,
Pacific Islands, North and South America), of which one,
Litsea sebifera,
is native to Asia and has been introduced to southern Africa, where it
has become naturalised on forest margins in N KwaZulu-Natal. Litsea
glutinosa (Indian laurel) is cultivated in southern Africa and is a
declared Category 1 invasive plant
in South Africa. |
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Other genera, cultivated in southern Africa
List from Glen (2002).
Cinnamomum
(cinnamon, camphor) About 250 species
worldwide (E and SE Asia through to Australia). Five species are cultivated
in southern Africa,
including Cinnamon and the Camphor tree. |
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Persea
(avocado genus) About 150 species worldwide (tropics). Two species that are cultivated in this region,
including the well-known Avocado Persea
americana.
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Laurus
(bay laurel genus) Two species, native to the Mediterranean region,
Canary Islands and the Azores. Both species are cultivated in southern Africa,
including Laurus nobilis, from which we
obtain bay leaves, used in seasoning food.
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Umbellularia
Two species (North America), of which one Umbellularia
californica (Californian laurel) is cultivated in southern Africa.
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Publications
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Glen, H.F. 2002. Cultivated plants of
southern Africa. Jacana, Johannesburg.
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Jordaan, M. 2000. Lauraceae. In: Seed Plants of
Southern Africa (ed. O.A. Leistner). Strelitzia 10: 334-336.
National Botanical Institute, Pretoria.
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