BRASSICACEAE
Family Brassicaceae is derived from Latin word “Brassica” referring to cabbage family as shown
in (a) and other cruciferous vegetables.It is also commonly known as mustard family .The
alternative older name cruciferae meaning “cross bearing” , describes the four petals of
mustard flower , which resemble a cross.The family contains 375 genera and 4060 accepted
species.the largest genera are Draba(440 species), Erysimum(261 species),Lepidium(234
species),Cardamine(233 species),Alyssum(207 species).The family contains the cruciferous
vegetables including species such as Brassica oleracea(e.g, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower
etc),Brassica rapa(turnip, Chinese cabbage etc).
(a)
Brassica oleracea
Taxonomy
First of all this family was established as a formal taxonomical category named
Cruciferae by A.C.de Jussieu.Later on the cruciferae name was retained but at the same time
Brassicaceae name was given to this family because it has some distinct characters which are
not present in other families.
Different scientists played different roles in taxonomy of family Brassicaceae.
1. A Swedish botanist, physician and zoologist Carlous Linnaeus in 1753 regarded the
Brassicaceae as a natural group, naming them “Klass” tetradynamia.
2. An English botanist Alfred Barton Rendle placed the family in the order Rhoedales.
3. An English botanist George Bentham and British botanist Joseph Dalton Hooker assigned it
the class violales.
4. Following Bentham and Hooker an English botanist, taxonomist in 1948 and again in 1964
thought the Brassicaceae to stem from near the Papaveraceae.
5. A group of scientist in 1944 suggested to include the Capparaceae in the Brassicaceae.
Early DNA analysis showed that the Capparaceae as defined at that moment were
paraphyletic, and it was suggested to assign the genera closest to the Brassicaceae to the
Cleomaceae. The cleomaceae and Brassicaceae diverged approximately 41 million years ago. All
their families have consistently been placed in one order(variably called Capparales or
Brassicales).
Description
This family is described as following
Habit
Members of this family are generally herbs, annual(Brassica, Capsella) or biennial or
shrubs.
Stem
They are mostly herbaceous so stem is cylindrical, branched,smooth,green, hairy and stem
carry leaves or the stem may be leafless(in caulanthus) and some species lack stem altogether.
Leaf
Leaves are alternate, simple and exstipulate(without stipules) i.e, Brassica campestris.
Brassica campestris
Root
Roots may be of different types like,taproot, swollen on account of stored food material.It
may be conical(radish), fusiform or napiform(turnip).
Brassica napus
Distribution
Brassicaceae can be found almost on the entire land surface of the planet but it is
absent from Antarctica, and in some areas in the tropics i.e, north eastern Brazil and tropical.
The area of origin of the family is possibly the Irano-Turanian region, where approximately 900
species occur in 150 different genera.
References
1.Schmidt,R.(2010).Genetics and Genomics of the Brassicaceae,Plant Genetics and Genomics.
2.Al-Shehbaz, & Ihsan,A.(2012).A Generic and tribal synopsis of the Brassicaceae,Taxon.
3.Schuilling,R.D.(2013).The Plant Families, Natural Science 3rd edition Page 241-249.
4.Naser,A, & Iqbal Ahmad,M.(2012).The Plant Family Brassicaceae, Contributition towards
phytoremediatio 2nd edition.
