Clades:
Saxifragales;
Saxifragidae;
Malvanae;
Angiospermae;
Plants.
Genera: Altingia, Liquidambar, Semiliquidambar.
Botany: wind-pollinated trees; fruits hard, woody with numerous seeds.
Region: Central America, Mexico, eastern North America, eastern Mediterranean, China, tropical Asia.
Use: ornamentals; valuable wood.
TaxonomyAltingiaceae is a small family of flowering plants in the order
Saxifragales, closely related to
Hamamelidaceae. The genera: Altingia and Semiliquidambar are recently included in Liquidambar. In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the family
Altingiaceae was not generally accepted. Molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that including
Altingiaceae in
Hamamelidaceae makes
Hamamelidaceae paraphyletic. The Apg3 and Apg4 classifications include
Altingiaceae,
Cercidiphyllaceae and
Daphniphyllaceae in
Hamamelidaceae to make it monophyletic.
Plant theoryIn
Plant theory 2 Altingiaceae,
Cercidiphyllaceae and
Daphniphyllaceae are included in
Hamamelidaceae, in accordance with the
Apg4 classification.