Editing Lythraceae (section)

{{Short description|Family of flowering plants}}
{{Automatic taxobox
| fossil_range = {{fossil range|Campanian|0|[[Campanian]] - recent|ref=<ref name=mobot>{{Cite web |title=Myrtales|url=https://mobot.org/MOBOT/research/APweb/orders/myrtalesweb2.htm|access-date=2023-07-20 |website=www.mobot.org}}</ref>}}
| image = Purple loosestrife.jpg
| image_caption = ''Lythrum salicaria''
| taxon = Lythraceae
| authority = [[Jean Henri Jaume Saint-Hilaire|J.St.-Hil.]]<ref name=APGIII2009>{{Cite journal |last=Angiosperm Phylogeny Group |year=2009 |title=An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III |journal=Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society |volume=161 |issue=2 |pages=105–121 |doi=10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00996.x |doi-access=free |hdl=10654/18083 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>
| subdivision_ranks = Genera
| subdivision = 31 (27); see text.
}}

'''Lythraceae''' is a [[family (biology)|family]] of [[flowering plant]]s, including 32 [[genus|genera]], with about 620 [[species]] of [[Herbaceous plant|herbs]], [[shrub]]s, and [[tree]]s.<ref name="Stevens 2001">{{cite web |url=http://www.mobot.org/mobot/research/apweb/ |title=Angiosperm Phylogeny Website |author=Stevens, P.F. |date=2001{{ndash}}2011 |access-date=15 February 2011}}</ref>  The larger genera include ''[[Cuphea]]'' (275 spp.), ''[[Lagerstroemia]]'' (56), ''[[Nesaea (plant)|Nesaea]]'' (50), ''[[Rotala (plant)|Rotala]]'' (45), and ''[[Lythrum]]'' (35).<ref name="Judd 2008">{{cite book |last=Judd |first=Walter S. |author2=Christopher S. Campbell |author3=Elizabeth A. Kellogg |
author3link=Elizabeth Anne Kellogg|author4=Peter F. Stevens|author4-link=Peter F. Stevens |author5=Michael J. Donoghue  |title=Plant Systematics: A Phylogenetic Approach |edition=3rd |year=2008 |publisher=Sinauer Associates |location=Sunderland, MA |isbn=978-0-87893-407-2 |pages=412–414 }}</ref> It also includes the members of the former families of the [[pomegranate]] (''[[Punica]] granatum'', formerly in [[Punicaceae]]) and of the [[water caltrop]] (''[[Trapa]] natans'', formerly in [[Trapaceae]]). Lythraceae has a worldwide distribution, with most species in the tropics, but ranging into temperate climate regions as well.

The family is named after the type genus, ''Lythrum'', the loosestrifes (e.g. ''Lythrum salicaria'' [[purple loosestrife]]) and also includes [[henna]] (''Lawsonia inermis''). It now includes the [[pomegranate]], formerly classed in a separate family [[Punicaceae]].  The family also includes the widely cultivated [[Lagerstroemia|crape myrtle]] trees. Botanically, the leaves are usually in pairs (opposite), and the flower petals emerge from the rim of the [[calyx tube]]. The petals often appear crumpled.