(PhysOrg.com) -- A new family of flowering plants has been
described to accommodate Petenaea cordata, a species of
uncertain affinities. Petenaea cordata, a species from northern
Central America, has been included in Elaeocarpaceae and
Tiliaceae, but its familial placement has been uncertain. It was
considered a taxon incertae sedis by the Angiosperm Phylogeny
Group (APG III). Molecular phylogenetic analyses based on a
recent collection made in Guatemala revealed a distant sister-
group relationship to the African genus Gerrardina
(Gerrardinaceae, Huerteales). However, a comparison of
morphological and anatomical characters did not identify any
obvious synapomorphies for Gerrardina and Petenaea, and a new
monotypic family, Petenaeaceae, has been described in a paper in
the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society by scientists from
the Natural History Museum, Kew and the University of San Carlos
de Guatemala. The polymorphic order Huerteales now comprises
four small families, Dipentodontaceae, Gerrardinaceae,