Primarily known only by the edible fruits of Citrus, Rutaceae comprise a large (c. 160 genera and 1900 species), morphologically diverse, cosmopolitan family. Of its extraordinary array of secondary chemical compounds, many have medicinal, antimicrobial, insecticidal, or herbicidal properties. To assist with the much‐needed suprageneric reclassification and with studies of evolution of chemical compounds and biogeographic history of the family, here we included sequence data (from two noncoding regions of the chloroplast genome—rps16 intron and trnL‐trnF region) from 65 species in 59 genera (more than one third of those in the family) that represented all subfamilies and tribes and more genera of Toddalioideae and of neotropical groups than previous studies. Results confirmed that Cneorum, Ptaeroxylon, Spathelia, and Dictyoloma form a clade sister to the remaining Rutaceae, none of the subfamilies with more than one genus (except Aurantioideae) is monophyletic, and characters of the ovary and fruit are not reliable for circumscription of subfamilies. Furthermore, clades are better correlated with geographic distributions of the genera than with ovary and fruit characters. Circumscriptions of subfamilies and tribes (and some subtribes of Rutoideae) must be reevaluated. Results are discussed in light of geographic distributions, caryology, chemotaxonomy, and other molecular studies.

The Brazilian red propolis (BRP) constitutes an important commercial asset for northeast Brazilian beekeepers. The role of Dalbergia ecastaphyllum (L.) Taub. (Fabaceae) as the main botanical source of this propolis has been previously confirmed. However, in addition to isoflavonoids and other phenolics, which are present in the resin of D. ecastaphyllum, samples of BRP are reported to contain substantial amounts of polyprenylated benzophenones, whose botanical source was unknown. Therefore, field surveys, phytochemical and chromatographic analyses were undertaken to confirm the botanical sources of the red propolis produced in apiaries located in Canavieiras, Bahia, Brazil. The results confirmed D. ecastaphyllum as the botanical source of liquiritigenin (1), isoliquiritigenin (2), formononetin (3), vestitol (4), neovestitol (5), medicarpin (6), and 7-O-neovestitol (7), while Symphonia globulifera L.f. (Clusiaceae) is herein reported for the first time as the botanical source of polyprenylated benzophenones, mainly guttiferone E (8) and oblongifolin B (9), as well as the triterpenoids β-amyrin (10) and glutinol (11). The chemotaxonomic and economic significance of the occurrence of polyprenylated benzophenones in red propolis is discussed.

Rutaceae is a family of angiosperms well known for the economically important genus Citrus. The division of Rutaceae into subfamilies is still inadequate and provisional. Previous phylogenetic studies at the family level are characterized by a limited sampling of genera and lack several crucial taxa. Here, we present a phylogenetic study based on six nuclear and plastid markers including 87.7% of the currently accepted genera, which is more than twice as many as in previous studies. Seven genera are included in a phylogenetic analysis for the first time. Most clades are resolved with high support, and we propose a new subfamily classification for Rutaceae that comprises the subfamilies Amyridoideae, Aurantioideae, Cneoroideae, Haplophylloideae, Rutoideae and Zanthoxyloideae. Aurantioideae is the only traditional subfamily that is resolved as monophyletic. We tested whether 13 morphological and karyological characters are taxonomically informative in Rutaceae. Chromosome numbers are clearly different in the two main clades of Rutaceae, but fruit characteristics, which have been used to define subfamilies in the past, do not distinguish between the main lineages of the family.

The in vitro schistosomicidal effects of the essential oil of Ageratum conyzoides L. (Ac-EO) against adult worms of Schistosoma mansoni is reported in this paper. Concerning this activity, Ac-EO was considered to be active, but less effective than the positive control (praziquantel, PZQ) in terms of separation of coupled pairs, mortality, decrease in motor activity, and tegumental alterations. However, Ac-EO caused an interesting dose-dependent reduction in the number of eggs of S. mansoni. Precocene I (74.30%) and (E)-caryophyllene (14.23%) were identified as the two major constituents of Ac-EO. These compounds were tested individually and were found to be much less effective than Ac-EO and PZQ. A mixture of the two major compounds in a ratio similar to that found in the Ac-EO was also less effective than Ac-EO, thus revealing that there are no synergistic effects between these components. These results suggest that the essential oil of A. conyzoides is very promising for the development of new schistosomicidal agents.

The position of the plant genus Pitavia within an infrafamilial phylogeny of Rutaceae (rue, or orange family) was investigated with the use of two non-coding re