This document provides information on several plant families including Rutaceae, Umbelliferae, Labiatae, Solanaceae, Liliaceae, Myrtaceae, and Rubiaceae. For each family, it describes key characteristics such as habit, leaves, inflorescence, flowers, calyx, corolla, fruit, and important species. It also provides some economic uses of plants from the Umbelliferae family and describes characteristics common across members of the Myrtaceae and Rubiaceae families.

1. Family

2. • A taxonomic rank in the classification of
organisms between genus and order
A taxonomic rank in the classification of
organisms between genus and order.
A taxonomic group of one or more genera,
especially sharing a common attribute
 A collection of things or entities grouped by
their common attributes,
e.g. protein family, gene family, etc.
A group of people descended from a common
ancestor; a kin; a tribe.

3. RUTACEAE

4. Citrus Family

6. Unifoliate = single leaves , gland dotted = dots like
glands , extipulate = without stipules, winged=
wing like extensions

8. Cymes
Pentamerous

9. Connate= united
Imbricate= overlap

10. Introse= turned inwards

19. Umbelliferae

21. Common name: Carrot family or Celery or
Parsley family or Umbelliferae
Number of genera: This family includes 434
genera and about 3700 species
Propagation type: Whole fruit or partial fruit
Distribution: they are commonly found in sub-
tropical, north temperate regions. These plants
are cultivated in India during winter season.

22. Vegetative characters
• Habitat: Members of this family are adapted to
conditions that encourage heavy concentrations
of essential oils.
• Habit: Most of this family are herbaceous annual,
biennial (having a 2 year cycle), or perennial
plants
• Root system: These plants have tap root system.
The roots are large enough to store the useful
food materials. For example: carrot and parsnip.

23. • Stem: Stems are hollow at the points where
the leaves are attached. Usually stems are
soft, green, aerial. Either prostrate or erect.
Sometimes stems penetrate underground and
store food materials. The nodes of the stem
are swollen.
• Leaf: Leaves are alternate, exstipulate,
pinnately compound or palmately lobed with
reticulate venation. Leaf petiole is broadened
with sheath surrounding stem or base of leaf.

25. Floral characters
• Inflorescence: Inflorescence is the characteristic feature of this
family. The flowering head is usually a simple or compound ‘umbel’,
but it can be reduced to a single flower in some species. This flat-
topped umbel resembles a flattened umbrella structure and thus
the alternate name for this family is Umbelliferae.
• Flower:Flowers are small, bracteate/ebracteate, pedicillate or
sessile, complete, regular, pentamerous, actinomorphic or
zygomorphic, usually bisexual and rarely unisexual. Flowers are
arranged in umbels or double umbels, Flowers are many, small,
white or yellow in color.

26. s

28. • Calyx: The calyx consists of 5 sepals which remain
joined by having grown together to the ovary
wall. Sometimes sepals may be absent.
• Corolla:The corolla consists of 5 free petals
alternating with sepals. Petals are usually apically
inflexed (bent or curved inwards) in bud and they
fall off soon. The aestivation is imbricate or
valvate. The petals are two lobes. The peripheral
flowers of Coriandrum have unequal petals.
• Androecium: The Androecium consists of 5 free
stamens, alternating with the petals. They arise
from an epigynous disc. The filaments are equal
in length, inflexed in bug and the anthers are
basifixed or dorsifixed, dithecous, introse and
dehisce longitudinally.

29. • Gynoecium: The Gynoecium is bicarpellary
and syncarpous with an inferior bilocular
ovary. Each carpel has a single pendulous and
anatropus ovule.

30. • Pollination: Flowers are pollinated by a wide
variety of insects – mostly flies, mosquitoes or
gnats, bees, butterflies or moths.
• Fruit: The fruit can be divided into 2 parts. The
fruit is schizocarpic cremocarp. A cremocarp is
made up of two one-seeded carpels called as
mericarps. Mericarps remain attached to the
central axis known as carpophore. Mericarps are
longitudinally ridged and in between the ridges
resinous or oil ducts called vittae are present.

32. • Seed: Seeds are endospermic with a small
embryo. The endosperm may be flat, crescent
or concave on the ventral side.

33. Important plants of umbellifera
• Anethum graveolens (Dill)
• Angelica geniculata
• Anthriscus cerefolium (Chervil)
• Apium graveolens (Celery seed)
• Apium graveolens (Celery)
• Azorella compacta (Yareta)
• Carum bulbocastanum (Black caraway)
• Carum carvi (caraway)
• Centella asiatica (Gotu kola)
• Cicuta douglasii (Western Water Hemlock)
• Coriandrum sativum (Coriander)
• Cuminum cyminum (cumin, Jeera)
• Daucus carota (Carrot)
• Dorema ammoniacum (gum ammoniac)
• Ferula asafoetids (Asafoetida)

34. Economic Importance of Apiaceae
• Apium graveolens: It is cultivated in Himalayas, Uttaranchal,
Himachal Pradesh and South India. It is used as a vegetable. Its
roots and seeds are used medicinally. The fruits are used for
extracting valuable oil and the seeds are used as spices.
• Coriandrum sativum: It is chiefly grown in Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. The fruits and
leaves are used as condiment and spice. The fruit of this aromatic
herb is used as stimulant, carminative, stomachic and tonic.
• Cuminum cyminum: It is grown in the Punjab and Uttar Pradesh.
This plant gives aromatic fruits which are used as flavoring agents.
• Carum carvi: It is cultivated in Bihar, Orissa, the Punjab, Bengal and
Andhra Pradesh. The fruits are used as condiment. Its fruits are also
used as stomachic and carminative.
• Bunium persicum: It is found in Kashmir. The starchy tubers are
eaten as vegetable. Its seeds are used as spice.

35. Labiatea

41. Mentha Piperata

42. Thyme

43. Ocimum Basilum

44. Spearmint

45. Salvia

46. Solanaceae
Nightshade Family

47. Habit= herb shrub and tree
Leaves = Alternate, simply to
deeply divided, or once or
twice pinnate , extipulate

48. Inflorescence
• Cymose
• solitary

49. Floral character
Flower perfect and actinomorphic , anthers
often conivalent around style and dehising by
terminal pores

50. Calyx
• 5
• 4-7 sepals distinct or conate

51. Androecium

52. Gynoecium

53. Fruit
• Berry
• Septicidal capsule

54. LIST OUT THE SPECIES

55. Liliaceae

62. Colchium

63. Aloe

64. Garlic

66. Myrtaceae

67. • Habit: These are mostly herbs and under-shrubs.
• Leaves: These are simple, alternate, opposite or
whorled, exstipulate, and sometimes exhibit
heterophylly.
• Inflorescence: This is usually racemose (raceme
or spike), and sometimes cymose (dichasium). It
can be axillary or terminal. The flowers are
solitary in some species.

68. • Flowers: These are zygomorphic, two-lipped and
some-times personate. They often have a great
diversity of form. They are bisexual and
hypogynous. Bracts and bracteoles are generally
present.
• Calyx: The sepals are (5), gamosepalous, five-
lobed and often imbricate.
• Corolla: The petals are (5), gamopetalous, often
two-lipped and sometimes spurred or saccate.
They are medianly zygomorphic, very rarely
regular (as in Sco-paria), and imbricate.

72. Rubiaceae

73. • Habit: These are shrubs and trees (rarely herbs).
• Leaves: The leaves are simple or compound,
alternate or rarely opposite and gland dotted.
• Flowers: These are regular, bisexual and
hypogynous. The disc below the ovary is
prominent and ring or cap like.
• Calyx: There are four or five sepals free or
connate below and imbricate.

74. • Corolla: Petals four or five, free, imbricate.
• Androecium: The number of stamens varies,
they can be as many, or more often twice, as
many, as the petals (obdiplostemonous), or
numerous, as in citrus and aegle. They are free
or united in irregular bundles (polyadel-
phous), and inserted on the disc.

75. • Gynoecium: There are generally (4) or (5)
carpels, or ∞, as in citrus. They are syncarpous
or free at the base and united above, and
either sessile or seated on the disc. The ovary
is generally four- or five-locular, or
multilocular as in citrus, with axile
placentation (parietal in limonia only).
• Fruit: This is a berry, capsule or hesperidium.

76. • Seeds: The seeds may or may not have an
endosperm. Polyembryony is frequent in
Citrus, e.g. lemon and orange (but not
pummelo and citron)

79. Plant species