Laureae
In the Laureae, the flowers are arranged in pseudo-umbles, surrounded by an involucrum of bracts, so that in bud a partial inflorescence looks like a single flower bud. In addition all Laureae have unisexual flowers in which the organs of the opposite sex are usually strongly reduced. The Laureae include the following genera: Actinodaphne (ca. 100 spp.?, warm-temperate to tropical Asia), Dodecadenia (1 sp., Nepal to Myanmar), Iteadaphne (2 spp., Southeast Asia), Laurus (2–3 spp., Mediterranean and Makaronesia), Lindera (ca. 100 spp.?, predominantly in Asia, 2–3 in North America, 1 in Australia), Litsea (ca. 300–400 spp.?, predominantly in Asia, few in Central and North America, Australia and the Pacific area), Neolitsea (ca. 80 spp.?, predominantly in Asia, 3 in Australia), Parasassafras (1 sp., Southern Himalaya) and Sinosassafras (1 sp., South China: Yunnan).
The Phylogeny of the Laureae was studied by Li et al. (2004, 2007) and by Fijridiyanto & Murakami (2009). Their analyses differ considerably in the taxon sample, the molecular markers investigated and in the results. However, two partial results appear very likely form all of these studies:
- Neither Lindera nor Litsea is monophyletic.
- Actinodaphne and Neolitsea form a common clade.
An elucidation of the phylogeny of this group will probably require genome sequencing and detailed morphological studies, particularly of inflorescence morphology.