Belongs within: Faganae.
The Betulaceae, birches and related taxa, is a group of deciduous trees and shrubs with pinnately-veined, sharp-toothed, simple leaves found mostly in temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Flowers are borne in unisexual inflorescences with staminate flowers forming elongate, pendulous catkins. Species of genus Alnus, the alders, have cone-like pistillate catkins with woody bracts that remain attached after the fruits are released. In Betula, birches, the papery, lobed bracts are released with though not attached to the fruits (Hickman 1993).
Characters (Flora of North America): Trees and shrubs, deciduous. Winter buds stipitate or sessile, with either 2–3 valvate scales (stipules) or few to many imbricate scales (or occasionally naked); terminal bud absent. Leaves alternate, spirally arranged, 2–3-ranked, simple; stipules deciduous, distinct; petioles present. Leaf blade sometimes lobed, pinnately veined, margins toothed, serrate to nearly entire; surfaces glabrous to tomentose, abaxially often with resinous glands. Inflorescences unisexual; staminate catkins pendulous, elongate, cylindric, conspicuously bracteate, consisting of crowded, reduced, 1–3-flowered clusters; pistillate inflorescences either of erect to pendulous bracteate catkins, or of compact 2–3-flowered clusters subtended by leafy involucres; bracts often nearly foliaceous or woody in infructescences. Staminate flowers bracteate; stamens (1–)4–6; anthers 2-locular, dehiscing by longitudinal slits, pollen sacs often more or less distinct; pistillode sometimes present. Pistillate flowers small, highly reduced; pistil 1, 2(–3)-carpellate; ovary inferior, usually 2-locular proximally, 1-locular distally; placentation axile; ovules 1–2 per locule, pendulous; styles 2, distinct or nearly so; stigmas dry; staminodes usually absent. Fruits nuts, nutlets, or 2-winged samaras, 1-seeded, without multibracteate cupule, often subtended or enclosed by foliaceous hull developed from 2–3 bracts; seed coat membranous; endosperm present, thin at maturity; embryo straight, as long as seed; cotyledons flat or greatly thickened, oily.
Betulaceae [Betulanae, Betuloideae]
`--BetuleaeCBH93
|--AlnusCBH93
| |--A. acuminataF11
| |--A. argutaBT87
| |--A. glutinosaWM09
| |--A. hirsutaM03
| | |--A. h. var. hirsutaA80
| | `--A. h. var. sibiricaA80
| |--A. incanaHP-W05
| |--A. japonica [=A. maritima var. japonica]LO98
| |--A. jorullensisWO92
| |--A. maccoyi Ettingshausen 1886F71
| |--A. maximowieziiM03
| |--A. nepalensisD07
| |--A. oregonaM68
| |--A. rhombifoliaH93
| |--A. rubraPHK96
| |--A. rugosaJVHN90
| |--A. serulataJ23
| |--A. sinuataWM09 [=A. viridis ssp. sinuataH93]
| |--A. tenuifoliaZB01 [=A. incana ssp. tenuifoliaH93]
| `--A. viridisHP-W05
`--BetulaRJ11
|--B. albaWEE70
|--B. alleghaniensisBFD01
|--B. alnoidesDD73
|--B. ermaniiWB03
|--E. glandulosaRJ11
|--B. lentaCS05
|--B. luteaS96
|--B. mandshuricaS00
|--B. maximowiczianaLO98
|--B. nanaRJ11
|--B. nigraCB06
|--B. occidentalisRJ11
|--B. papyriferaJVHN90 [=B. alba var. papyriferaH63]
|--B. pendulaBS01
|--B. platyphyllaLO98
| |--B. p. var. platyphyllaLO98
| `--B. p. var. japonicaLO98
|--B. populifoliaJVHN90
|--B. pubescensW01
`--B. utilisO88
Betulaceae incertae sedis:
OstryopsisYY22
OstryaYY22
|--O. carpinifoliaSM08
`--O. virginianaH03
CarpinusSP04
|--C. americanusJ23
|--C. betulusSM08 [incl. C. caucasicaSP04]
|--C. carolinianaV72
|--C. orientalisG98
|--C. tschonoskii [incl. C. laxiflora]LO98
`--C. vimineaDD73
Betuloxylon oligocenicum Kaiser 1880CBH93
Coryloxylon nemejcii Prakash et al. 1971CBH93
AlnipollenitesCBH93
|--A. eminens Miki 1977CBH93
|--A. trina (Stanley) Norton in Norton & Hall 1969YB02
`--A. verus (Potonié) Potonié 1960YB02
Betulaceoipollenites Jarzen & Norris 1975CBH93
AsterocarpinusCD02
*Type species of generic name indicated
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