What is "magnoliaceae"

Magnoliaceae \Magnoliaceae\ n. A natural family of plants, a subclass of the Magnoliidae; it includes the genera Liriodendron; Magnolia; Manglietia; and Michelia.

Syn: family Magnoliaceae, magnolia family.

The Magnoliaceae are a flowering plant family, the magnolia family, in the order Magnoliales. It consists of two subfamilies: Magnolioideae, of which Magnolia is the most well-known genus, and Liriodendroidae, a monogeneric subfamily, of which Liriodendron (tulip trees) is the only genus.

Unlike most angiosperms, whose flower parts are in whorls (rings), the Magnoliaceae have their stamens and pistils in spirals on a conical receptacle. This arrangement is found in some fossil plants and is believed to be a basal or early condition for angiosperms. The flowers also have parts not distinctly differentiated into sepals and petals, while angiosperms that evolved later tend to have distinctly differentiated sepals and petals. The poorly differentiated perianth parts that occupy both positions are known as tepals.

The family has about 219 species in seven genera, although some classification systems include all of subfamily Magnolioideae in genus Magnolia. The family ranges across subtropical eastern North America, Mexico and Central America, the West Indies, tropical South America, southern and eastern India, Sri Lanka, Indochina, Malesia, China, Japan, and Korea.