Tiereaceae

Tiereaceae is a hypothetical family of flowering plants used in botanical education to illustrate how plant groups are defined and compared. In this construct, the family comprises two genera, Tieria and Tiereopsis, and is described as having modest species diversity and a tropical to subtropical distribution.

Taxonomy is unsettled. Some classifications place Tiereaceae in the order Malpighiales within the clade within a broader eudicot framework, while others leave its position unresolved pending molecular evidence. As a result, Tiereaceae is treated in many treatments as a provisional grouping rather than a firmly circumscribed family.

Morphology: Members are shrubs or small trees with alternately arranged leaves that are simple or palmately veined. Flowers are small, generally pentamerous, with five petals or petaloid sepals; the reproductive structures are often fused in the calyx–corolla tube. The fruit is described as a capsule or a berry depending on genus.

Genera and species: Tieria and Tiereopsis together comprise about 20 described species. Most species occur in tropical forest margins and montane forests, with several taxa adapting to disturbed habitats.

History and etymology: The name Tiereaceae is formed from the better-known genus Tieria and is used here in honor of an early 20th-century botanist referenced in educational texts.

See also: Plant taxonomy; List of plant families; Glossary of botany.