Families

Lauraceae

The Lauraceae is a family of mostly trees or shrubs, although a few are parasitic climbers without true leaves.  The family consists of about 32 genera and 2500 species.  The leaves are alternate or opposite, usually leathery and evergreen, and without stipules.  The flowerers are regular and either bisexual or unisexual on the same plant.  The fruit is a berry or drupe like, often enclosed by the perygyneous part of the flower which may become a more or less fleshy cupule.  The seed does not have endosperm and contains a straight embryo. 

Lecythidaceae

This family of tropical trees comprised of about 20 genera and 450 species.  Tree size varies from very small to very large.  The leaves are spirally arranged in clusters at the tips of the twigs, each leaf large, simple, usually without gland-dots.  The flowers are bisexual and bourne in spike, generally large and showy, in shades of red, pink, yellow or white and have a fluffy appearance due to numerous stamens. The usually large fruits have fleshy outer layers, hard and woody inner layers and are indehiscent.  The seed is large, woody and lacks endosperm. 

Liliaceae

The Liliaceae is one of the largest families of flowering plants and certainly one of the most important horticulturally, as it includes the lilies and numerous other outstandingly beautiful cultivated genera.  It comprised of about 3500 species in 250 genera.  Most of the Liliaceae are herbs, and of these, a large percentage has swollen storage organs such as bulbs, corms, rhizomes or thick fleshy roots.  The leaf characters vary enormously within the family from basal and linear with parallel veins to cauline and broadly ellipsoid with net-veining.  The flowers are usually regular and bisexual, and bourne in a raceme, sometimes solitary or more or less condensed into a cyme.  The fruit is either a dry capsule or, less frequently, a fleshy berry.  The seeds have a straight or curved embryo and abundant endosperm.

Linaceae

The Linaceae is a small but wide spread family of herbs and some shrubs composed of 13 genera and some 300 species.  The leaves are usually alternate, small, entire and with or without stipules.   The inflorescence is cymose, bearing regular bisexual flowers.  The fruit is usually a capsule but in some species drupaceous.  The seed contain a straight embryo and endosperm ranges from none to copious.

Loganiaceae

Family of flowering plants in the order Gentianales, containing about 21 genera with more than 500 species of woody vines, shrubs, or trees native primarily to tropical areas of the world. Members of the family bear leaf-like appendages at the base of the leafstalks and have terminal flower clusters. The ring of petals on each flower has four or five overlapping lobes. The fruit is a capsule containing winged or wingless seeds.

Loranthaceae

The Loranthaceae is a family of parasites with green leaves, most of which are anchored to a host plant by means of suckers usually regarded as modified adventitious roots.  This family composed of at least 35 genera and about 1300 species.  The leaves are usually evergreen, leathery, opposite, regular and without stipules.  They can be bisexual or unisexual, with sexes on the same or different plants.  The fruit is usually a drupe or berry, and there is a characteristic layer of sticky viscin surrounding the seeds, which adheres to the beak of birds feeding on the fruits.

Lythraceae

The Lythraceae is a small family of herbs, shrubs and trees including several ornamentals and species producing dyes, including 22 genera and 450 species.   The leaves are opposite, whorled or spiral, simple and entire, with very small or no stipules.  The flowers, borne in racemes, panicles or cymes, are usually regular and bisexual.  The fruit is a dry, dehiscent or indehiscent capsule.  The seeds are numerous, with a straight embryo and no endosperm.