Cotula

Last updated

Cotula
BrassButtonsHand.jpg
Cotula coronopifolia
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Asteroideae
Tribe: Anthemideae
Genus: Cotula
L.
Type species
Cotula coronopifolia
Synonyms [3]
  • BaldingeriaNeck.
  • GymnogyneSteetz
  • PeyrouseaDC.
  • LancisiaLam.
  • PleiogyneK.Koch
  • StrongylospermaLess.
  • CeniaComm. ex Juss.
  • Cenia sect. ActinoceniaDC.
  • HippiaL.f.
  • CtenospermaHook.f.
  • LancisiaFabr.
  • MachlisDC.
  • OtochlamysDC.
  • CotylaO.Kuntze & T. von Post

Cotula is a genus of flowering plant in the sunflower family. [4] [2] It includes plants known generally as water buttons or buttonweeds.

Contents

The species within this genus can vary extensively in their habit, leaf division, involucre, receptacle and achenes. This makes it difficult to define them by comparing their morphology. The genus can only be defined by looking at the corollas of their flowers. Most are disciform (lacking ray florets). These corollas may be tubular, reduced or even absent. Another characteristic is their solitary heads growing on a peduncle.

Taxonomy

Cotula is the largest genus found in the Southern Hemisphere of the tribe Anthemideae. This genus was first mentioned by Carl Linnaeus, who described four species in his first edition (1753) of Species Plantarum . In 1867 the genus was subdivided by George Bentham [5] into three sections. Since his account, only a few changes have been made but the number of species has remained more or less stable. The sections possess different basic chromosome numbers :

David G. Lloyd has proposed that the five species from Australia and New Guinea are distinctive enough from the other species from the section Leptinella to be brought under a new section with the proposed name Oligoleima (type species C. longipes).

Species [3]

Uses

Cotula is used in New Zealand as ground cover for bowling greens, playing fields on which the ball-game of bowls is played. [6] [7]

Footnotes

  1. ↑ lectotype designated by M. L. Green, Prop. Brit. Bot. 182 (1929)
  2. 1 2 Tropicos, Cotula L.
  3. 1 2 Flann, C (ed) 2009+ Global Compositae Checklist
  4. ↑ Linnaeus, Carl von. 1753. Species Plantarum 2: 891-892 in Latin
  5. ↑ Bentham, G., 1867: "Flora Australiensis", Vol. 3. Reeve, London.
  6. ↑ The Royal Society of New Zealand (September 1979). New Zealand Journal of Crop and Horticultural Science/Experimental Agriculture. The Royal Society of New Zealand. pp. 257–. Retrieved 24 August 2012.
  7. ↑ Sports Turf Research Institute (Bingley, England) (1999). International turfgrass bulletin. Sports Turf Research Institute. Retrieved 24 August 2012.

Related Research Articles

<i>Indigofera</i> Genus of plants

Indigofera is a large genus of over 750 species of flowering plants belonging to the pea family Fabaceae. They are widely distributed throughout the tropical and subtropical regions of the world.

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

Gnaphalium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae, commonly called cudweeds or (formerly) chafeweeds. They are widespread and common in temperate regions, although some are found on tropical mountains or in the subtropical regions of the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anthemideae</span> Tribe of flowering plants in Asteraceae family

Anthemideae is a tribe of flowering plants in the subfamily Asteroideae, which is part of the family Asteraceae. They are distributed worldwide, with concentrations in central Asia, the Mediterranean Basin, and southern Africa. Most species of plant known as chamomile belong to genera of this tribe.

References

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.