Acrosanthes

Genus of plants

Acrosanthes
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Aizoaceae
Subfamily: Acrosanthoideae
Klak
Genus: Acrosanthes
Eckl. & Zeyh. (1837)
Synonyms[1]

Didaste E.Mey. ex Harv. & Sond. (1862)

Acrosanthes is a genus of flowering plants in the family Aizoaceae. It is native to the Namibia and South Africa's Cape Provinces in Southern Africa.[1]

Description

Plants in this genus are generally prostrate to sprawling branching perennials with opposite succulent leaves. Inflorescences are a cyme, and flowers have 5 calyx lobes, 8 to many stamen, and an inferior ovary. Fruits are 2 loculed capsules with basal placentation (see "in plants"), and the fruit is xerochastic (fruit dehisces when dry).[2][3] Their seeds are likely dispersed by ants.[4]

Taxonomy

This genus was first described by Ecklon and Zeyher in 1837.[3][5]

Species

There are 7 recognized species as of 2022:[1]

  1. Acrosanthes anceps (Thunb.) Sond.
  2. Acrosanthes angustifolia Eckl. & Zeyh.
  3. Acrosanthes decandra Fenzl
  4. Acrosanthes humifusa (Thunb.) Sond.
  5. Acrosanthes microphylla Adamson
  6. Acrosanthes parviflora J.C.Manning & Goldblatt
  7. Acrosanthes teretifolia Eckl. & Zeyh.

References

  1. ^ a b c "Acrosanthes Eckl. & Zeyh. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 2020-09-29.
  2. ^ Kubitzki, K. (1993). Kubitzki, Klaus; Rohwer, Jens G; Bittrich, Volker (eds.). The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Volume 2, Flowering Plants · Dicotyledons. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH. p. 45. doi:10.1007/978-3-662-02899-5. ISBN 978-3-642-08141-5. S2CID 38606188.
  3. ^ a b Schmid, Rudolf; Govaerts, Rafaël; Govaerts, Rafael (August 1996). "World Checklist of Seed Plants". Taxon. 45 (3): 45. doi:10.2307/1224173. ISSN 0040-0262. JSTOR 1224173.
  4. ^ Bond, W. J.; Slingsby, P. (June 1983). "Seed Dispersal by Ants in Shrublands of the Cape Province and its Evolutionary Implications". South African Journal of Science. 79 (6): 237–233.
  5. ^ Ecklon, Christian Friedrich; Zeyher, Karl Ludwig Philipp (1835). Enumeratio plantarum Africae australis extratropicae quae collectae, determinatae et expositae (in Latin). Perthes & Besser.
Taxon identifiers
Acrosanthes
Acrosanthoideae
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