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| Joao Azevedo | profile | all galleries >> Myrtaceae | tree view | thumbnails | slideshow |
The Myrtaceae or Myrtle family are a family of dicotyledon plants, placed within the order Myrtales. All species are woody, with essential oils, and flower parts in multiples of four or five. One notable character of the family is that the phloem is located on both sides of the xylem, not just outside as in most other plants. The leaves are evergreen, alternate to mostly opposite, simple, and usually with an entire (not toothed) margin. The flowers have a base number of five petals, though in several genera the petals are minute or absent. The stamens are usually very conspicuous, brightly coloured and numerous.
The family Myrtaceae has at least 3000 species distributed in 130-150 genera. They have a wide distribution in tropical and warm-temperate regions of the world, and are typically common in many of the world's biodiversity hotspots.
The ones displayed here can be found on Jardim Botânico de Coimbra, at Coimbra, Portugal.
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