The COM clade consists of, and is named for, three orders of flowering plants: Celastrales, Oxalidales and Malpighiales. A subgroup of the rosids, it is divided into 45 families of trees, shrubs, vines and herbaceous perennials and annuals.
Coca leaves, containing small amounts of cocaine, have been chewed as a stimulant for thousands of years in the Andes. Cassava crops provide a substantial source of carbohydrates in the tropics. Bruguiera, Rhizophora and other mangroves are planted to protect coasts from storms and to anchor beach sand. A single rootstock that supports a grove of quaking aspen may be the world's oldest living individual plant, at around 80,000 years. Hybrids of the wild pansy (Viola tricolor) and other species of the violet family are grown as ornamentals, even in temperate winters.
Glossary From the glossary of botanical terms: annual: a plant species that completes its life cycle within a single year or growing season basal: attached close to the base (of a plant or an evolutionary tree diagram) climber: a vine that leans on, twines around or clings to other plants for vertical support deciduous: falling seasonally, as with bark, leaves or petals glandular hair: a hair tipped with a secretory structure herbaceous: not woody; usually green and soft in texture perennial: not an annual or biennial succulent (adjective): juicy or fleshy unisexual: of one sex; bearing only male or only female reproductive organs woody: hard and lignified; not herbaceous
The APG IV system is the fourth in a series of plant taxonomies from the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. In this system, Celastrales is basal within the COM clade.
Families