Ever changing truth

Science is an ever evolving pursuit, and family Flacourtiaceae is a good example of this. It was earlier a fairly large tropical and subtropical family, but recent phylogenetic analyses have revealed, i.a., that the temperate family Salicaceae is part of Flacourtiaceae (and these two families should then be united and named Salicaceae), and that many of the species thought to belong to Flacouriaceae are rather members of other families (Celastraceae, Malvaceae, Myrtaceae, Passifloraceae,…), and other parts of the old Flacourtiaceae must be separated from the new Salicaceae/Flacourtiaceae… Oncoba still belong to the old Flacourtiaceae (now Salicaceae), but Caloncoba, the genus this plant was first thought to belong in, is now in family Achariaceae… Nice flower though, with many petals and anthers!

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