Monocots II: Commelinids
Introduction
Commelinids comprise 33 families in five orders (Arecales, Zingiberales, Commelinales, Poales and Dasypogonales) (Annex 1). The group includes many well-known families such as Arecaceae (palms), Bromeliaceae (bromeliads), Commelinaceae (commelinas), Cyperaceae (sedges), Eriocaulaceae (eriocauls), Juncaceae (rushes), Poaceae (grasses), Restionaceae (restios) and Zingiberaceae (gingers).
The Commelinid Team’s overall objective is to resolve the systematics of these important plant groups through high quality research in collaboration with a wider international network, thereby generating a greater understanding of its diversity, evolution and conservation needs. We have traditionally focused our activities on three main families in the Commelinids, namely Arecaceae, Poaceae and Cyperaceae. The Arecaceae include 187 genera and 2,400 species with geographic hotspots of diversity in SE Asia, Papuasia, W Pacific, Madagascar and the New World. Traditionally under-collected throughout their range and under-worked on account of their great bulk, many species and genera remain poorly known. The Poaceae comprise c. 10,800 species in 670 genera. They have a cosmopolitan distribution with important centres of diversity in Brazil, central North America, eastern and southern Africa and Australia. The sedges (Cyperaceae) comprise c. 5,500 species in 108 genera, making them the third largest monocot family. They are more or less cosmopolitan in distribution with hotspots of diversity in north-eastern South America, eastern and southern Africa, S and SE Asia and Australasia.
The Team is based mainly in the Herbarium and Jodrell Laboratory with some work taking place in Seed Conservation and Horticulture and Public Education. The team’s research is multidisciplinary and is active in Collections (type databasing/imaging, living collections, DNA Bank and seeds); Baseline Plant Diversity Research (Floras and Monographs); Comparative Plant Biology (molecular phylogenetic studies, seed biology, anatomy, genomics, evolutionary development; Sustainable Utilisation (family checklists of economic importance) and Conservation and Environmental Monitoring (conservation genetics, conservation ratings).
These pages highlight the work that we do in the three main families and also give a brief insight into our work on other Commelinids.