Axinaea

Last updated

Axinaea
Axinaea macrophylla (14469910578).jpg
Axinaea macrophylla
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Myrtales
Family: Melastomataceae
Genus: Axinaea
Ruiz & Pav.

Axinaea is a genus of flowering plants in the family Melastomataceae. As of 2012, there are at least 42 species. [1] They are small trees and shrubs. They are native to the Americas; almost all are found in the Andes. [2]

Plants of this genus are pollinated when birds, several species of fruit-eating tanagers, consume specialized appendages on the stamens. As they grasp the nutritious appendages, a cloud of pollen is released. This has been called "puff pollination". [3] [4]

Species include:

Related Research Articles

<i>Tibouchina</i> Genus of flowering plants

Tibouchina is a neotropical flowering plant genus in the family Melastomataceae. Species of this genus are subshrubs, shrubs or small trees and typically have purple flowers. They are native to Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America where they are found as far south as northern Argentina. Members of this genus are known as glory bushes, glory trees or princess flowers. The name Tibouchina is adapted from a Guianan indigenous name for a member of this genus. A systematic study in 2013 showed that as then circumscribed the genus was paraphyletic, and in 2019 the genus was split into a more narrowly circumscribed Tibouchina, two re-established genera Pleroma and Chaetogastra, and a new genus, Andesanthus.

<i>Monochaetum</i> Genus of flowering plants

Monochaetum is a neotropical genus of shrubs and subshrubs with about 54 species. It occurs in warm temperate to tropical montane habitats from Mexico and Central America to the South American Andes of Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Peru with one species reaching the Guayana Highlands of Venezuela and Guyana.

<i>Melastoma affine</i> Species of shrub

Melastoma affine, also known by the common names blue tongue or native lassiandra, is a shrub of the family Melastomataceae. Distributed in tropical and sub-tropical forests of India, South-east Asia and Australia, it is a plant of rainforest margins. Bees are the principal pollinators of this species.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Masked flowerpiercer</span> Species of bird


The masked flowerpiercer is a species of bird in the tanager family, Thraupidae. It is found in humid montane forest and scrub in Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia. Flowerpiercers got their name from the fact that they have a sharp hook on the tip of their upper mandible which they use to slice open the base of flowers to get at the nectar.

Axinaea sclerophylla is a species of tree in the family Melastomataceae. It is endemic to Ecuador, where its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

<i>Blakea</i> Genus of flowering plants

Blakea is a genus of flowering plants in the family Melastomataceae. There are about 189 species distributed from Mexico to Bolivia and the Antilles. They are climbers, shrubs, and trees, some epiphytic.

<i>Memecylon</i> Genus of flowering plants

Memecylon is a plant group in Melastomataceae. It consists of 350-400 species of small to medium-sized trees and shrubs occurring in the Old World tropics. Memecylon is a monophyletic group basal to the Melastomataceae clade. Memecylon taxa have more than 600 published basionyms. Diversity of this group is concentrated in tropical Africa, Madagascar, Sri Lanka, India and Malaysia.

<i>Meriania</i> Genus of flowering plants

Meriania is a genus of flowering plants in the family Melastomataceae. There are about 93 species distributed from Mexico to Brazil and the Antilles.

<i>Pachycentria glauca</i> Species of shrub in Melastomataceae family

Pachycentria glauca is a small epiphytic shrub in the Melastomataceae family. It has 2 subspecies: P. glauca subsp. glauca and P. glauca subsp. maingayi. The glauca subspecies is endemic to Borneo, the maingayi subspecies is native to Peninsular Malaysia and Thailand, perhaps Sumatra. It grows on trees, other epiphytes and rocks in partial shade. It is intimately associated with particular ant species, growing on their gardens, providing a home for them, feeding them and having its seeds dispersed by them.

Axinaea affinis is a species of tree in the family Melastomataceae. It is native to mountainous regions of the Andes in South America in Peru and Ecuador. Its natural habitat is subtropical or tropical moist montane forests.

Dissochaeta is a genus of plants in the family Melastomataceae. Species can be found in: Hainan and Indo-China through to Malesia.

<i>Microlicia</i> Genus of Melastomataceae plants

Microlicia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Melastomataceae, native to northern South America, particularly Brazil. They tend to be subshrubs.

<i>Chaetogastra</i> Genus of flowering plants

Chaetogastra is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Melastomataceae. Its native range is South America and North America. It contains around 115 species.

<i>Gravesia</i> (plant)

Gravesia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Melastomataceae.

<i>Salpinga</i> Genus of plants

Salpinga is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Melastomataceae.

Pleiochiton is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Melastomataceae.

<i>Huberia</i> (plant) Species of flowering plant

Huberia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Melastomataceae.

<i>Pleroma</i> (plant)

Pleroma is a genus of flowering plant in the family Melastomataceae, native from Puerto Rico and the Leeward Islands to tropical South America.

References

  1. 1 2 Bussmann, R. W., & Zambrana, N. P. (2012). Axinaea ninakurorum (Melastomataceae)− a new species from the northern Peruvian Merianeae hotspot. Arnaldoa 19(1) 23-27.
  2. 1 2 3 Bussmann, R. W., Gruhn, J., & Glenn, A. (2010). Axinaea fernando‐cabiesii and A. reginae spp. nov.(Melastomataceae) from upper Amazonia of Peru, with notes on the conservation status of A. flava. Nordic Journal of Botany, 28(5), 518-522.
  3. Edwards, J. (2014). Coevolution: puff pollination in tropical flowers. Current Biology, 24(14), R649-R651.
  4. Dellinger, A. S., et al. (2014). A specialized bird pollination system with a bellows mechanism for pollen transfer and staminal food body rewards. Current Biology, 24(14), 1615-19.
  5. Bussmann, R. W. and N. Y. Paniagua. (2013). Axinaea carolinae-telleziae (Melastomataceae) another new species from northern Peru. Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Arnaldoa (20)1 19-24.
  6. 1 2 3 Cotton, E., Bussmann, R. W., & Lozano, P. 2004. Three new Ecuadorian species of Axinaea (Melastomataceae). Nord. J. Bot, 23(1), 49.