Linderniaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales, which consists of about 25 genera and 265 species occurring worldwide. It is commonly known as the false-pimpernel family. Vandellia micrantha is eaten in Laos, but tastes bitter. Best known are the wishbone flowers Torenia fournieri and Torenia thouarsii, which are used as bedding plants, especially in the tropics. Micranthemum is sold as an aquarium plant under the name 'baby tears'.
In other classifications it used to be included within family Scrophulariaceae sensu lato or more recently in Plantaginaceae sensu lato, but several authors have demonstrated that this taxon should be segregatedAlbach, D. C., Meudt, H. M. & Oxelman, B. 2005. Piecing together the "new" Plantaginaceae. American Journal of Botany 92: 297–315.Oxelman B., Kornhall, P., Olmstead, R. G. & Bremer, B. (2005). "Further disintegration of Scrophulariaceae". Taxon 54(2):411–425. from those families, as Linderniaceae,Rahmanzadeh, R., K. Müller, E. Fischer, D. Bartels & T. Borsch. 2005. The Linderniaceae and Gratiolaceae are further lineages distinct from the Scrophulariaceae (Lamiales). Pl. Biol. ( Stuttgart) 7: 67-78. and it has been recognized by LAPG II and APG III. Recently a phylogeny has been published Fischer E, Schäferhoff, B and Müller, K. 2013. The phylogeny of Linderniaceae - the new genus Linderniella and new combinations within Bonnaya, Craterostigma, Lindernia, Micranthemum, Torenia and Vandellia. Willdenowia 43: 209-238. and two new Brazilian genera Catimbaua and Isabelcristinia were recently added to the family.Almeida, E.M., Wanderley, A.M., Santos, A.D.S., De Melo, J.I.M., Souza, G., Batista, F.R.D.C., Christenhusz, M.J. and Felix, L.P., 2019. Two new genera and species of Linderniaceae (Lamiales) from inselbergs in northeastern Brazil: morphological and karyological evidence. Phytotaxa 400(4):215-226. Studies on the family limits of Linderniaceae are pending.
Genera Plants of the World Online (POWO) accepts 20 genera. GRIN also includes the genera Ameroglossum , which POWO places in Scrophulariaceae, Bythophyton , which POWO places in Plantaginaceae, and Cubitanthus , which POWO places in Gesneriaceae.GRIN Artanema Bampsia Bonnaya Catimbaua Craterostigma - sometimes considered as part of Lindernia Crepidorhopalon Hartliella Hemiarrhena Isabelcristinia Lindernia (synonym Chamaegigas ) Linderniella Micranthemum Microcarpaea Picria Pierranthus Schizotorenia Scolophyllum Stemodiopsis Torenia (synonym Legazpia ) Vandellia Yamazakia
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