Ayenia | |
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Ayenia compacta | |
Scientific classification | |
Kingdom: | Plantae |
Clade: | Tracheophytes |
Clade: | Angiosperms |
Clade: | Eudicots |
Clade: | Rosids |
Order: | Malvales |
Family: | Malvaceae |
Subfamily: | Byttnerioideae |
Tribe: | Byttnerieae |
Genus: | Ayenia L. (1756) [1] |
Species [2] | |
217; See text | |
Synonyms [2] | |
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Ayenia is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It includes 216 species [2] of subshrubs, shrubs, small trees, and lianas. [3] They are native to the tropical Americas and southwestern United States, tropical Africa, and tropical Asia. [2]
Ayenia includes subshrubs, shrubs, small trees, and lianas. The genus is distinguished by its tiny yet extraordinarily complex flowers. [3]
Species of Ayenia grow in diverse habitats, from open areas in dry and seasonally-dry regions to humid forests, river banks, and from lowlands to high elevations. [3]
Byttneria species are host plants to insects such as beetles of the genus Lonchophorellus . [4]
Ayenia, Byttneria, and Rayleya were formerly described as separate genera, with Ayenia having a Neotropical distribution, Byttneria as a Pantropical genus, and Rayleya as a monotypic genus with a single Brazilian species, Rayleya bahiensis. A phylogenetic analysis found that Byttneria was paraphyletic and Ayenia was nested within it, and Rayleya was a sister clade to the others. [3] In 2018 Christenhusz and Byng transferred the Byttneria and Rayleya names to Ayenia, which had nomenclatural priority. [5]
217 species are currently accepted. [2] Selected species include:
Abutilon is a large genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It is distributed throughout the tropics and subtropics of the Americas, Africa, Asia, and Australia. General common names include Indian mallow and velvetleaf; ornamental varieties may be known as room maple, parlor maple, or flowering maple. The genus name is an 18th-century Neo-Latin word that came from the Arabic ’abū-ṭīlūn, the name given by Avicenna to this or a similar genus.
Sterculiaceae was a family of flowering plant based on the genus Sterculia. Genera formerly included in Sterculiaceae are now placed in the family Malvaceae, in the subfamilies: Byttnerioideae, Dombeyoideae, Helicteroideae and Sterculioideae.
Sterculia is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae: subfamily Sterculioideae. Members of the genus are colloquially known as tropical chestnuts. Sterculia may be monoecious or dioecious, and its flowers unisexual or bisexual.
Dombeya is a flowering plant genus. Traditionally included in the family Sterculiaceae, it is included in the expanded Malvaceae in the APG and most subsequent systematics. These plants are known by a number of vernacular names which sometimes, misleadingly, allude to the superficial similarity of flowering Dombeya to pears or hydrangeas. Therefore, the genus as a whole is often simply called dombeyas. The generic name commemorates Joseph Dombey (1742–1794), a French botanist and explorer in South America, involved in the notorious "Dombey affair", embroiling scientists and governments of France, Spain, and Britain for more than two years.
Melhania is a genus of small shrubs or herbaceous plants. Traditionally included in the family Sterculiaceae, it is included in the expanded Malvaceae in the APG and most subsequent systematics. The genus is named for Mount Melhan in Yemen.
Triumfetta is a genus of plants in the family Malvaceae. Burbark is a common name for plants in this genus.
Melochia is a genus of flowering plants in the mallow family, Malvaceae. It comprises 54 species from the tropical and subtropical regions of the world, ranging from India eastwards through Malesia and the Pacific Islands to the Americas and the Caribbean.
Byttnerioideae is a subfamily of the flowering plant family Malvaceae.
Callianthe is a genus of flowering plants in the tribe Malveae. It is distributed throughout the Neotropics.
Morisonia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Capparaceae, found across the Americas from the United States to Argentina. They are typically shrubs or small trees. The genus was recently enlarged with New World Capparis species due to existing taxonomic instability.