science

Laurales

Laurales is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Laurales rather than just read about it. In short: The Laurales are an order of flowering plants. They are magnoliids, related to the Magnoliales.

Key takeaways

Laurales belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Laurales to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Laurales from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Laurales are an order of flowering plants. They are magnoliids, related to the Magnoliales. The order includes about 2500–2800 species from 85 to 90 genera, which comprise seven families of trees and shrubs. Most of the species are tropical and subtropical, though a few genera reach the temperate zone. The best known species in this order are those of the Lauraceae (for example bay laurel, cinnamon, avocado, and Sassafras), and the ornamental shrub Calycanthus of the Calycanthaceae. The earliest lauraceous fossils are from the early Cretaceous. It is possible that the ancient origin of this order is one of the reasons for its highly diverged morphology. Presently no single morphological property is known, which would unify all the members of Laurales. The presently accepted classification is based on molecular and genetic analysis.

Classification The first botanist to think of the Laurales as a natural group was H. Hallier in 1905. He viewed them as being derived from the Magnoliales. During some or all of the 20th century, the Laurales generally included Amborella and the plants now classified in Austrobaileyales and Chloranthaceae. They were not removed until the advent of molecular data in the late 20th century; their previous inclusion made it harder to determine the relationships within the Laurales and between the Laurales and other groups. The following families are included in the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system (APG III):

Under the older Cronquist system, the Laurales included a slightly different set of families (current placement, where different, in brackets):

Family Amborellaceae (Family Amborellaceae, unplaced) Family Calycanthaceae Family Gomortegaceae Family Hernandiaceae Family Idiospermaceae (= Calycanthaceae pro parte) Family Lauraceae Family Monimiaceae (Cronquist included Atherospermataceae and Siparunaceae in Monimiaceae) Family Trimeniaceae (Austrobaileyales) The extinct family Araripiaceae (containing only the genus Araripia) is known from the Aptian of Brazil.

Gallery

References

K.J. Perleb (1826). Lehrbuch der Naturgeschichte des Pflanzenreichs p. 174. Magner, Freiburg im Breisgau, Deutschland. Renner, Susanne S. (May 2001) Laurales. In: Nature Encyclopedia of Life Sciences. London: Nature Publishing Group. doi:10.1038/npg.els.0003695, Full text (pdf). Endress, P.K.; Igersheim, A. (1997). "Gynoecium diversity and systematics of the Laurales". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 125 (2): 93–168. doi:10.1006/bojl.1997.0113.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Laurales

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Laurales claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Laurales before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Laurales ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Laurales

In research: Laurales appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Laurales in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Laurales is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Angiosperm orders, Extant Aptian first appearances, Laurales, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Laurales outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Laurales” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Laurales in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Laurales means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Laurales out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Laurales in simple terms?

The Laurales are an order of flowering plants. They are magnoliids, related to the Magnoliales.

Why does Laurales matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Laurales?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Laurales.