Introduction to the Anacardiaceae Family

When you learn to identify the Anacardiaceae family, you will quickly learn its most well-known members in North America, the sumac (Rhus spp.) and poison ivy (Toxicodendron spp.). I have always been fond of sumac trees, and I am not the only one. They are often used ornamentally for their ease of growing, brilliant fall colors, and striking pyramidal clusters of red drupes that persist all winter to feed the birds when few other food sources are available.

And of course, poison ivy is a crucial one to know, as anyone who has ever hiked in the forest and come across it will tell you, since it causes incredibly itchy contact dermatitis. There is an old saying, “Leaves of three, let it be,” since the Toxicodendron species that cause poison ivy rash have trifoliate leaflets. It is a good rule of thumb if you are unsure of your plant ID. But be aware that numerous innocuous species exist that also have trifoliate leaves, so do not assume it is always poison ivy.

Beginner’s Guide to the Cashew or Sumac (Anacardiaceae) Family

If you’re new to plant morphology, this is a perfect beginner’s description to learn to identify the Cashew (Anacaradiaceae) family, with no need to know any scientific jargon. For researchers or those wanting to learn a more in-depth version, check out the Scientific Botanical Description below.

Leaves and Stems of the Cashew Family

The cashew family consists of woody shrubs and trees or climbing vines with resin canals in their leaves, roots, and stems that often release a milky or resinous juice when damaged and that may be aromatic, turn black when it hits the air, and/or cause severe contact dermatitis. Leaves are often arranged alternately in a spiral pattern along the stem and may be simple (1 blade) or compound and made of multiple leaflets.

Flowers of the Cashew Family

The flowers are usually quite small and occur in branched clusters called panicles. Most flowers have 5 sepals and 5 petals, but some may lack petals or have petals that are more green and sepal-like. They often contain a ring-shaped nectary inside to attract pollinators.

Reproductive Features of the Cashew Family

These flowers are quite diverse in the family, with bisexual flowers that contain both male (stamens) and female (ovary, style, stigma) parts, or separate male and female flowers that may be on the same (monoecious) or separate plants (dioecious). There are usually 5-10 stamens and a superior ovary (sitting above the point of petal attachment) with 1 to 5 styles (the tube that collects pollen) on top.

Fruits of the Cashew Family

The fruit is usually a fleshy drupe (think cherry but usually smaller) containing a fleshy or resinous outer part and a single hard pit, but some species produce winged samaras. The fruits and sap of some species contain urushiol, the toxic oil responsible for the skin irritation of poison ivy (Toxicodendron species).

Morphology of Anacardiaceae in North America

Some Anacardiaceae Species Found in North America

Anacardioideae Subfamily

Mangifera indica—Mango

A 10-20 m tall tree with long, oblong leaves and large, edible drupes on very long stalks (peduncles). While originally native to Asia, this tree is widely cultivated in southern North America (mostly Mexico) and around the world in tropical and subtropical locations for its delicious fruits—the mango.

Pistacia vera—Pistachio

A small to medium-sized tree up to 10 m tall with deciduous, compound leaves made of opposite pairs of leaflets (pinnate) 10–20 cm long. Flowers have no petals, and male and female flowers occur on separate trees (dioecious). The fruit is a drupe containing the elongated pistachio “nut.” These flowers are male, and what you are seeing are masses of anthers.

Rhus aromatica—Fragrant Sumac

Fragrant sumac is a somewhat lemon-scented shrub with trifoliate lobed leaves and hairy red drupes. It is dioecious (separate male and female plants) with small and inconspicuous flowers on both. This shrub is native throughout the USA, Mexico, and southeastern Canada, often found growing in semi-arid and arid environments.

Rhus copallinum—Shining Sumac

Shining sumac is a tall shrub with glossy odd-pinnate leaves that have a conspicuously winged leaf “stalk” (rachis—visible in the photo), which is a diagnostic feature for identification. It is native to eastern North America but is often cultivated there and elsewhere.

Rhus glabra—Smooth Sumac

Smooth sumac is another tall shrub with hairless branches and odd-pinnate leaves, with 11 to 31 toothed leaflets. It produces large, densely branched clusters (panicles) of red drupes, like shown in the photo. It is native to eastern North America, with scattered populations also found in western North America.

Rhus microphylla—Littleleaf Sumac

Littleleaf sumac is well adapted to desert life with its tiny, odd-pinnate, glossy green, leathery, and hairy leaves that emerge after its tiny flowers have already bloomed. The fruits are small clusters of small hairy drupes. It is native to the southwestern USA and northern and central Mexico.

Rhus trilobata—Skunkbush Sumac

Skunkbush sumac is closely related to fragrant sumac, but it gets a bad rap because instead of smelling pleasant and lemony, it produces a pungent, bitter scent, but it’s not nearly as unpleasant as a skunk. This shrub has trifoliate lobed leaves (shown in the pic), flowers in catkins, and its fruits are hairy, sticky red drupes. It is native to western North America, including western Mexico.

Rhus typhina—Staghorn Sumac

Staghorn sumac is a large shrub with odd-pinnate leaves with 9 – 31 toothed leaflets and can be differentiated from the similar-looking R. glabra by its densely red-hairy stems and leaf stalks (petioles). It is native to the northeastern USA and southeastern Canada.

Toxicodendron radicans—Eastern Poison Ivy

Eastern poison ivy is a climbing vine (sometimes a shrub) with woody stems & trifoliate, shiny leaves that are usually not toothed. Flowers are small, greenish, and inconspicuous, and the fruit is a gray-white drupe. The whole plant may cause contact dermatitis. It is native to the eastern USA and Canada.

Toxicodendron rydbergii—Western Poison Ivy

Western poison ivy is a shrub with opposite trifoliate leaves that are often asymmetrical. The fruits are white, yellow, or brown drupes that are ribbed (green, as in the photo, when still immature). It is native throughout the USA and Canada but is mostly found in the West.

Uses of the Anacardiaceae 

Some Anacardiaceae are edible plants, such as cashew nuts (Anacardium and the fleshy peduncle of the cashew apple), mango (Mangifera), Jamaica plum, hog-plum, imbu (a plum-like fruit from Spondias), and Amarula cream (from Sclerocarya typically made into a liqueur). Resins, oils, and lacquers are derived from Toxicodendron. Several non-native Anacardiaceae are cultivated in the Neotropics for their edible fruits, including Bouea macrophylla,, Harpephyllum caffrum, Mangifera indica, Schinus terebinthifolia, Sclerocarya birrea subspecies caffra, and Spondias dulcis. Many Anacardiacea species are notorious for their allergenic properties that often cause severe rashes, particularly Toxicodendron spp. (Poison Oak, Poison Ivies).

Ecosystem and Wildlife Values of the Anacardiaceae 

The Anacardiaceae serve as keystone food resources and soil stabilizers across temperate and tropical biomes. They are crucial early-season nectar sources and late-season food plants (Rhus (sumac), etc.).

Several specialized lepidopterans and herbivorous insects are specially adapted to feed on the resinous foliage, including silk moths, specialized bees, and leaf miners.

Taxonomy of the Anacardiaceae Family

The Anacardiaceae have 873 species in 80 genera of the Sapindales order of core eudicots. There are two accepted subfamilies. Previously the family had several dissident genera that were “unplaced” but now have confirmed homes in those two subfamilies, mostly accepted as early-diverging or basal grades (Attilaea, Campnosperma, Buchanania, Koordersiodendron, and Pentaspadon).

Anacardioideae Subfamily

The Anacardioideae are trees or shrubs with black or colored resinous exudate, and crystals are present in the xylem. Leaflets’ margins are usually entire or sometimes toothed in temperate species, and the base of the petiole is often swollen. Flowers are 5(-7)-merous, the calyx is more or less connate basally, the gynoecium is typically 3-carpeled, and the stigma is dry and capitate or lobed. The fruit is a drupe that is layered with a crystalliferous endocarp and lacks the opercula seen in Spondiadoideae. 

Genera of the Anacardioideae Subfamily 

Abrahamia (34), Actinocheita (1), Amphipterygium (5), Anacardium (13), Androtium (1), Apterokarpos (1), Astronium (11), Baronia (1), Blepharocarya (2), Bonetiella (1), Bouea (3), Campnosperma (14), Campylopetalum (1), Cardenasiodendron (1), Comocladia (27), Cotinus (7), Dobinea (2), Drimycarpus (4), Euroschinus (9), Faguetia (1), Fegimanra (3), Gluta (35), Haplorhus (1), Heeria (1), Holigarna (9), Laurophyllus (1), Lithraea (3), Loxopterygium (4), Loxostylis (1), Malosma (1), Mangifera (64), Mauria (15), Melanochyla (21), Metopium (4), Micronychia (10), Mosquitoxylum (1), Myracrodruon (2), Nothopegia (10), Ochoterenaea (1), Orthopterygium (1), Ozoroa (45), Pachycormus (1), Parishia (8), Pistacia (12), Protorhus (3), Pseudosmodingium (5), Rhodosphaera (1), Rhus (51), Schinopsis (7), Schinus (40), Searsia (110), Semecarpus (87), Smodingium (1), Sorindeia (10), Swintonia (13), Thyrsodium (6), Toxicodendron (28), Trichoscypha (32).

Spondiadoideae Subfamily

The Spondiadoideae (or Spondioideae, depending on the source) are deciduous or evergreen trees or shrubs with clear, non-allergenic resins or soluble gums that typically do not cause contact dermatitis. Flower pedicels are often articulated; the gynoecium has 4-5 (rarely 1-3 or up to 12) carpels, with distinct free or basally connate styles, and a stigma is only slightly expanded. The fruit is usually a drupe with a woody, often operculate endocarp, more than two-seeded (1-5), wrapped in an inner fibrous mesocarp.

Genera of the Spondiadoideae Subfamily 

Allospondias (2), Antrocaryon (5), Attilaea (1), Buchanania (26), Choerospondias (1), Cyrtocarpa (4), Dracontomelon (9), Haematostaphis (1), Harpephyllum (1), Koordersiodendron (1), Lannea (36), Operculicarya (9), Pegia (2), Pentaspadon (6), Pleiogynium (3), Poupartia (7), Poupartiopsis (1), Pseudospondias (2), Sclerocarya (2), Solenocarpus (2), Spondias (18), Tapirira (9), Tumultivenia (1), Uniostium (1).

Key Differences From Similar Families

The Anacardiaceae is typically confused with its sister family, the Burseraceae, which share similar vegetative habits. However, they can be distinguished by the anatropous or epitropous ovules with 2 per locule (though one is often abortive) compared to only one in the Anacardiaceae. They are also differentiated by the black resins and contact dermatitis of the Anacardiaceae rather than the aromatic and non-allergenic resins of the Burseraceae that rarely darken on contact with the air or cause contact dermatitis.

The Meliaceae also look superficially similar vegetatively, but they almost always have stamens with filaments fused into a staminal tube surrounding the ovary, while Anacaradiaceae stamens are free. Meliaceae also typically smell of garlic or cedar but lack resin ducts that oxidize black and cause contact dermatitis.

The Rutaceae can also sometimes be confused, but they feature aromatic oil glands (pellucid dots) on their leaves that the Anacardiaceae do not have, and they often possess axillary spines or modified stipular thorns that are generally lacking in the Anacardiaceae.

Scientific Botanical Description of the Anacardiaceae

Habit & Leaf Form of the Anacardiaceae

The Anacardiaceae are trees, shrubs, or self-supporting or climbing lianas, often with a milky juice that may be resinous or laticiferous and often turns black on exposure to the air; resins may be aromatic or odorless. Resin canals located in the inner fibrous bark and pith of the stems, roots, and leaves are characteristic of this family. Tannin sacs are very common.

Leaves are evergreen or deciduous, without stipules, and alternate (spirally arranged) or rarely opposite or subopposite (e.g., Bouea). They are simple or compound ternate, trifoliate, imparipinnate, or rarely paripinnate or bipinnate.

Lamina margins are entire to serrate, dentate, or deeply lobed. Primary venation is pinnate or rarely palmate, and secondary venation is eucamptodromous, brochidodromous, craspedodromous, cladodromous, or rarely reticulodromous. If present, cladodromous venation is diagnostic for certain genera in the Anacardiaceae family.

Domatia occur in several genera as pits, pockets, or hair tufts.

Flowers of the Anacardiaceae

Plants of the Anacardiaceae are sexually diverse and can be hermaphroditic, monoecious, dioecious, gynodioecious, or polygamomonoecious. Pollination is predominantly entomophilous, though anemophily is seen in reduced-perianth genera like Pistacia.

Flowers are small, actinomorphic (rarely slightly zygomoprhic), usually 3- to 5-merous, and arranged in terminal or axillary panicles (thyrses), racemes, or spikes. A hypogynous, fleshy, intrastaminal nectar disc (annular or lobed) is characteristically present.

The perianth has a distinct calyx and corolla, may be sepaline, or sometimes is reduced to minute bracts.

The calyx has 3–5 basally connate, imbricate lobes in one whorl that may be shorter or longer than the tube.

The corolla, when present, usually has 3–5 imbricate or valvate petals that are free, but can rarely be connate basally with lobes longer than the tube.

Androecium of the Anacardiaceae

The androecium has 1–10(11–12) parts arranged in 1 or 2 whorls. In diplostemonous flowers, the outer whorl is antesepalous, while the inner whorl is antepetalous, but when there are 5 stamens, they are oppositesepalous.

Androecial members are inserted at the base of the hypogynous disc, free of the perianth and of one another, or sometimes basally connate into a short ring.

There may be 0-9 staminodes, with highly reduced flowers showing the most rudimentary staminodes.

Anthers are tetrasporangiate, introrse, versatile, mostly dorsifixed (rarely basifixed, as in Spondias), and dehisce via longitudinal slits.

Gynoecium of the Anacardiaceae

The gynoecium is typically superior (or rarely partially to completely inferior) and consists of 1-5 (rarely to 12) carpels. In Anacardioideae, the ovary is predominantly pseudomonomerous and unilocular (derived from 3 fused carpels with only one fertile locule, or strictly monocarpellary, as in Mangifera). However, in the Spondiadoideae, the ovary is typically plurilocular with 4–5 (1–12) locules, except in Buchanania, which has up to 5 sterile carpels and only one fertile.

Styles range from 1 (terminal or lateral) to 3–5 (free or connate at the base). Stigmas are capitate, discoid, or lobed and are dry to wet and are often non-papillate.

Placentation is apical, basal, or parietal in unilocular forms, and axile/apical in plurilocular forms. There is strictly 1 ovule per locule (or 1 per fertile ovary). The ovule is anatropous, pendulous or ascending, bitegmic or unitegmic, and crassinucellate, bearing a dorsal or ventral raphe and lacking an aril. 

Fruit of the Anacardiaceae

The fruit is usually an indehiscent drupe, which may be fleshy or dry and resinous. Wind-dispersed genera, however, produce winged samaras or samaroid fruits from accrescent floral parts. In some genera the pedicel or receptacle dramatically enlarges into a fleshy, edible accessory structure supporting the true fruit (as in Anacardium (cashew)).

The drupes possess a stony or cartilaginous endocarp containing 1 (Anaacradioideae) or 1-5+ (Spondiadoideae) locules and sometimes contain urushiol.

Seeds are non-endospermic or retain only a rudimentary endosperm.

Global Distribution of Anacardiaceae

The Anacardiaceae family is mainly tropical to subtropical, with a few important genera found in temperate North America. They are widespread pantropically and also in the Mediterranean, eastern Asia, and the warm Americas.

Distribution of Anacardiaceae in the Americas

Canadian Anacardiaceae Genera

Anacardioideae in Canada

Cotinus 1 sp. intro to ON; Rhus 5 spp. native to all S provinces except NL; Toxicodendron 3 spp. native in all S provinces except NL, and including YT. 

USA Anacardiaceae Genera

Anacardioideae in the USA

Cotinus 2 spp. including 1 C+E USA endemic and 1 intro to UT, TX, OK, AR, IL, MO, AL, GA, TN, KY, OH, PA, NY, MD, DE, NJ, CT, MA, VT; Lithraea 1 sp. intro CA; Malosma monospecific S NAM endemic native CA; Mangifera 1 sp. intro to FL; Metopium 1 Gulf + Caribbean endemic sp. native to FL; Pistacia 3 spp, inc native in TX and 2 intro to CA, UT, OK, AL, GA, and VA; Rhus 16 spp. native and intro in the entire US, inc. HI; Schinus 5 former SAM endemic spp. intro to CA, TX, AL, FL, and HI; Searsia 1 sp. intro to CA and AZ; Sorindeia 1 sp. intro to FL; Toxicondrendon 5 spp. native in all the USA.

Spondiadoideae in the USA

Spondias 1 sp. intro to FL. 

Mexico Anacardiaceae Genera

Anacardioideae in Mexico

Actinocheita monospecific Mesoamerican endemic of Honduras and Nay, Jal, Col, Mch, Gro, Oax, and Pue; Amphipterygium 5 spp. native to most of Mexico except NW Mexico, including 2 endemics; Anacardium 1 sp. intro to Nay, Jal, Col, Mch, Gro, and Oax; Astronium 2 spp. native to most of Mexico exc. central and NW, inc. 1 narrow endemic of Ver; Bonetiella monospecific endemic of NE Mexico; Comocladia 5 spp. native in all of Mexico, inc. 3 endemic to Mexico; Cotinus 3 spp. native to Chi, Coa, NL, Tam, Dgo, Zac, Ags, Gto, Qro, and Hgo, including 2 endemics; Lithraea 1 sp. intro in Pue; Malosma monospecific S NAM endemic genus native to BCN, BCS, Son, Sin, Chi, Coa, NL, Tam, SLP, Dgo, Zac, and Mexican Pacific Islands; Mangifera 1 sp. intro SW+SE+C Mexico; Metopium 1 sp. native to Ver, Chp, Cam, Tab, Yuc, and QR; Mosquitoxylum monospecific N Neo endemic genus native to S Mexico in Nay, Jal, Col, Mch, Gro, Oax, Chp, Ver, Tab, Cam, Yuc, and QR; Pachycormus monospecific endemic of BCN, BCS; Pistacia 2 sp. inc. 1 native to most of Mexico except BC, BCS, Son, and Sin and 1 intro to N Mexico; Pseudosmodingium 5 spp. endemic to most of Mexico exc. SE Mexico; Rhus 15+ spp. native throughout Mexico including the Mexican Pacific Is.; Schinus 2 former SAM endemic spp. intro N and SW Mexico; Toxicodendron 4 spp. native to all of Mexico.

Spondiadoideae in Mexico

Attilaea monospecific endemic of QR, Yuc, and Guatemala; Cyrtocarpa 3 spp. native to most of Mexico exc. Ver, inc. 2 endemics; Spondias 3 spp. native to all of Mexico; Tapirira 2 Mexico & neoendemic spp. native to SW Mexico, Pue, Ver, Cam, Tab, Yuc, and QR, including 1 endemic of Oax + Ver.

Neotropical Anacardiaceae Genera

Anacardioideae in the Neotropics

Actinocheita monospecific Mesoamerican endemic native to Honduras; Amphipterygium 3 spp. native to Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and NW Costa Rica; Anacardium 13 spp. native from Honduras S to Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, S Brazil, and also in Cuba and intro to the rest of the Antilles (exc. Netherlands Antilles & Aruba), Belize, and El Salvador; Apterokarpos (~Loxopterygium?) monospecific endemic to NE Brazil?; Astronium 10 spp. native to CAM S through tropical SAM to Peru, Bolivia, NE Argentina, S Brazil (4 endemics), and Trinidad-Tobago (1 endemic); Campnosperma 2 spp. native from Honduras S to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Amazonian N Brazil; Cardenasiodendron monospecific endemic to Bolivia; Comocladia 24 spp. native to Guatemala, Belize, Greater Antilles, and Leeward & Windward Islands. with 15 single-island endemics of Jamaica (6), Hispaniola (5), Cuba (2), Dominican Republic, Haiti, and 1 extinct sp. of the Windward Is.; Haplorhus monospecific endemic to the dry inter-Andean valleys of Peru to N Chile; Lithraea 3 spp. SAM endemic genus of C+E+S Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, N Argentina, Uruguay, and C Chile, inc. 1 narrow endemic of C Chile; Loxopterygium 4 spp. SAM endemic genus of Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, NW Argentina, and NE Brazil; Mangifera 1 sp. intro to Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Galapagos, Antilles (excluding Netherlands Antilles, Aruba), Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Paraguay, and S Brazil; Mauria 15 spp. neoendemic genus from Costa Rica S to Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and NW Argentina; Metopium 4 spp. native to Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, the Antilles (except Leeward Is. & Venezuelan Antilles), and the SW Caribbean; Mosquitoxylum monospecific N neoendemic genus native to Jamaica, Guatemala, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, and Ecuador; Myracrodruon 2 spp. SAM endemic genus of Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, and N Argentina; Ochoterenaea monospecific N SAM endemic to Andean Venezuela, Colombia, and Bolivia; Orthopterygium monospecific endemic to W Peru; Pistacia 1 sp. native to Guatemala and Honduras; Rhus 1-3 spp. native to Cuba, Bahamas, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, and intro to Trinidad-Tobago; Schinopsis 7 spp. SAM endemic genus of Peru, Bolivia, C+E Brazil, Paraguay, and N Argentina; Schinus 40 spp. native to Peru, Bolivia, and C+E+S Brazil and all south, and intro to Ecuador, Colombia, Bermuda, the Bahamas, Turks and Caicos, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Trinidad-Tobago, Venezuelan Antilles, Guatemala, and El Salvador; Semecarpus 1 sp. intro to Trinidad-Tobago; Thyrsodium 6 spp. N SAM endemic genus of Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, French Guiana, Guyana, Suriname, and N+C+E Brazil; Toxicodendron 3 spp. including 2 native to Bermuda, the Bahamas, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia and 1 sp. intro to Cuba.

Spondiadoideae in the Neotropics

Antrocaryon 1 sp. endemic to Colombia and Amazonian N+C Brazil (the rest of the genera are tropical Africa); Attilaea monospecific endemic to SE Mexico and Guatemala; Cyrtocarpa 2 spp. native to Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, N+C+E Brazil, and the Netherlands Antilles; Dracontomelon 1 sp. intro to Trinidad-Tobago; Spondias 12 spp., including 11 natives of the Antilles, CAM S through tropical SAM S to Peru, Bolivia, and C+SE Brazil (6 endemics), and 1 sp. intro to Guatemala, Belize, Nicaragua, Panama, the Greater Antilles, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guiana, N+SE Brazil, Ecuador, and Peru; Tapirira 8 spp. native from CAM S through tropical SAM to Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and S Brazil, including 3 narrow endemics of Costa Rica, Colombia, and French Guiana; Tumultivenia monospecific endemic of E + WC Brazil; Uniostium monospecific endemic of Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, and the Netherlands Antilles.

Patagonia Anacardiaceae Genera

Anacardioideae in Patagonia

Lithraea 1 SAM endemic spp. native to Bio Bio to Los Lagos in C. Chile; Schinus 6 former SAM endemic spp. native to the entire region. 

Additional Information and References

• Visit Lyrae’s Dictionary of Botanical Terms to learn the terminology of botanists. Note that if you hover over most of the words in the articles, you can also get definitions from them there.
• Willis, Lyrae (Unpublished). Plant Families of North America. This is where all of the family descriptions come from. Below should be most of my references for this, along with my own observations in North America.
• Canadensys: Acadia University, Université de Montréal Biodiversity Centre, University of Toronto Mississauga, University of British Columbia. http://data.canadensys.net/explorer (accessed 2020 – current)
• Flora of North America (1993+). https://floranorthamerica.org/Main_Page.
• Delta: Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. (1992+). The Families of Flowering Plants: descriptions, illustrations, identification, and information retrieval. Version: 2nd May 2020. delta-intkey.com. Accessed spring through fall of 2020.
• GBIF.org (2020), GBIF Home Page. Available from: https://www.gbif.org
• Herrera F, Mitchell JD, Pell SK, Collinson ME, Daly DC, Manchester SR. Fruit Morphology and Anatomy of the Spondioid Anacardiaceae. Bot Rev. 2018;84(4):315-393. doi: 10.1007/s12229-018-9201-1. Epub 2018 Aug 3. PMID: 30464355; PMCID: PMC6223893.
• Naturalista: CONABIO http://www.naturalista.mx Accessed 2020–current.
• Neotropikey: Milliken, W., Klitgård, B. & Baracat, A. eds. (2009+). Neotropikey: Interactive key and information resources for flowering plants of the Neotropics. www.kew.org/neotropikey.com (accessed 2020 – current).
• Patagonia Wildflowers: Wildflower Identification Site. https://patagoniawildflowers.org/ Accessed throughout the fall of 2020.
• POWO (2019). Plants of the World Online. Facilitated by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the Internet: http://www.plantsoftheworldonline.org/ Retrieved Winter 2020-current.
• USDA, NRCS. 2020. The PLANTS Database (http://plants.usda.gov, 2 June 2020). National Plant Data Team, Greensboro, NC, USA; accessed throughout fall of 2020.
• WFO (2022): World Flora Online. Published on the Internet: http://www.worldfloraonline.org. Accessed Spring 2022 – current

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Copyright Information

The information and the photos on this site are free to use for educational purposes, with proper attribution. For other uses, please contact me first.

You can cite this site as follows: Willis, Lyrae (2020+). Lyrae’s Nature Blog – Plant Families of North America. https://lyraenatureblog.com/. Accessed [Enter Date].