What are the Laurales?
Q: What are the Laurales?
A: The Laurales are an order of flowering plants.
Q: What group of dicots are the Laurales related to?
A: The Laurales are a basal group of dicots and are related to, and sometimes included in, the Magnoliales.
Q: How many genera are in the Laurales order?
A: The Laurales order includes 85-90 genera from seven families of trees and shrubs.
Q: Where are most species of Laurales found?
A: Most species of Laurales are tropical and subtropical, though a few genera reach the temperate zone.
Q: What are some of the best-known species in the Laurales order?
A: Some of the best-known species in the Laurales order are those of the Lauraceae (for example bay laurel or Laurus, cinnamon or Cinnamomum, avocado or Persea, and Sassafras), and the spice bush or Calycanthus of the Calycanthaceae.
Q: What is the earliest fossil record of the Lauraceae?
A: The earliest lauraceous fossils are from the Cretaceous.
Q: What caused arguments among botanists regarding the correct limits of the Laurales order?
A: At present no one trait is known which would unify all the members of Laurales, and this used to cause much argument among botanists about the correct limits of the order. The present classification is based on recent molecular and genetic analysis.
