The Santalales are an order of flowering plants of eudicots. Well-known members of the Santalales include sandalwoods and the many species of mistletoes. The order has a cosmopolitan distribution, but is heavily concentrated in tropical and subtropical regions. It derives its name from its type genus, Santalum (sandalwood).
>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
👉 Santalales in the context of Santalaceae
The Santalaceae, sandalwoods, are a widely distributed family of flowering plants (including small trees, shrubs, perennial herbs, and epiphytic climbers) which, like other members of Santalales, are partially parasitic on other plants. Its flowers are bisexual or, by abortion ("flower drop"), unisexual. Modern treatments of the Santalaceae include the family Viscaceae (mistletoes), previously considered distinct.
The APG II system of 2003 recognises the family and assigns it to the order Santalales in the clade core eudicots. However, the circumscription by APG is much wider than accepted by previous classifications, including the plants earlier treated in families Eremolepidaceae and Viscaceae. It includes about 1,000 species in 43 genera. Many have reported traditional and cultural uses, including as medicine.
In this Dossier
Santalales in the context of Mistletoe
Mistletoe is the common name for obligate hemiparasitic plants in the order Santalales. They are attached to their host tree or shrub by a structure called the haustorium, through which they extract water and nutrients from the host plant. There are hundreds of species which mostly live in tropical regions.
The name mistletoe originally referred to the species Viscum album (European mistletoe, of the family Santalaceae in the order Santalales); it is the only species native to the British Isles and much of Europe. A related species with red fruits, rather than white, Viscum cruciatum, occurs in Southwest Spain and Southern Portugal, as well as in Morocco in North Africa and in southern Africa. There is also a wide variety of species in Australia. The genus Viscum is not native to North America, but Viscum album was introduced to Northern California in 1900.