Diarthron

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Diarthron
Diarthron altaica 44315652.jpg
Diarthron altaica
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Thymelaeaceae
Genus: Diarthron
Turcz. [1]

Diarthron is a genus of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae. The precise limits of the genus are uncertain. When broadly circumscribed to include Dendrostellera and Stelleropsis, it consists of annual and perennial herbaceous plants and small shrubs, with reddish, white or green flowers lacking petals, and is found in central and south-west Asia and south-east Europe.

Contents

Description

When broadly circumscribed (i.e. including Dendrostellera and Stelleropsis), Diarthron is a genus of annual or perennial herbaceous plants or short deciduous shrubs. Prior to a review in 1982, only the annual species were placed in Diarthron, with the perennial herbs being in Stelleropsis and the shrubs in Dendrostellera. The flowers lack petals. There are usually four (sometimes five) sepals, united at the base into a tube with lobes at the end, reddish, white or green in colour. The ovary has a single chamber (locule). The fruit is dry with the seed enclosed in a thin glossy black pericarp. [2]

Taxonomy

The genus Diarthron was first described in 1832 by Nikolai Turczaninow for the species Diarthron linifolium . Many species were added to the genus in 1982 by Kit Tan, being transferred from related genera. [3] [4] A 2006 study suggested that as circumscribed, Diarthron is not monophyletic, so that Dendrostellera and Stelleropsis which Tan had merged into Diarthron should be reinstated. [5] Studies in 2002 and 2009, based on chloroplast DNA, placed Diarthron in a small group of related genera, sister to a clade consisting of Thymelaea and Daphne ; however for most genera only one species was included. [6] [7]

Edgeworthia

Wikstroemia

Stellera

Diarthron

Thymelaea

Daphne

Species

The Plant List (version 1.1, September 2013) recognizes the following species: [8]

Distribution

Diarthron species are found in central and south-west Asia, and in south-east Europe, including the European part of Russia. [2]

Related Research Articles

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polygonaceae</span> Knotweed family of flowering plants

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melanthiaceae</span> Family of flowering plants

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<i>Daphne</i> (plant) Genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae

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

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Theophrastoideae</span> Subfamily of flowering plant family Primulaceae

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

Gnidia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is distributed in Africa, Madagascar, Arabia, India, and Sri Lanka; more than half of all the species are endemic to South Africa. Gnidia was named for Knidos, an Ancient Greek city located in modern-day Turkey.

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

Iostephane is a genus of Mexican flowering plants in the family Asteraceae.

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

Frankenia is the only genus in the Frankeniaceae family of flowering plants. Other genera have been recognized within the family, such as Anthobryum, Hypericopsis and Niederleinia, but molecular phylogenetic studies have consistently shown that they all belong inside Frankenia. Frankenia comprises about 70–80 species of shrubs, subshrubs and herbaceous plants, adapted to saline and dry environments throughout temperate and subtropical regions. A few species are in cultivation as ornamental plants.

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

Mabrya is a genus of flowering plants in the plantain family, Plantaginaceae. It consists of herbaceous perennials with brittle upright or drooping stems, found in dry areas of Mexico and the southern United States.

Deltaria brachyblastophora is a species of shrubs in the Thymelaeaceae family. It is endemic to New Caledonia and the only species of the genus Deltaria. It is related to Arnhemia, Gonystylus, Lethedon and Solmsia.

<i>Fritillaria dagana</i> Species of flowering plant

Fritillaria dagana is a rare bulbous herbaceous perennial plant native to Siberia, Russia. It is a species in the genus Fritillaria of the family Liliaceae. It is placed in the subgenus Liliorhiza.

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

Stellera is a genus of flowering plant in the family Thymelaeaceae, with a single species Stellera chamaejasme found in mountainous regions of Central Asia, China, Siberia and South Asia. S. chamaejasme is a herbaceous perennial plant with heads of white, pink or yellow flowers, grown as an ornamental plant in rock gardens and alpine houses, but considered a weed playing a rôle in the desertification of grasslands in parts of its native range. Like many others of its family, it is a poisonous plant with medicinal and other useful properties.

<i>Dais</i> (plant) Genus of flowering plants

Dais is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is also part of the Gnidia subfamily, along with Gnidia, Drapetes, Kelleria, Pimelea, Struthiola, Lachnaea and Passerina, other genera of species). It is distributed between Tanzania to S. Africa, Madagascar. It is native to the countries of Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and it is also found within several Provinces of South Africa, such as Cape Provinces, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Northern Provinces.

References

  1. "Plant Name Details for Diarthron Turcz.", The International Plant Names Index , retrieved 2017-11-26
  2. 1 2 Wang, Yinzheng & Gilbert, Michael G., "Diarthron", in Wu, Zhengyi; Raven, Peter H. & Hong, Deyuan (eds.), Flora of China (online), eFloras.org, retrieved 2017-11-26
  3. "Search for Diarthron", The International Plant Names Index , retrieved 2017-11-26
  4. Tan, K. (1982), "Studies in the Thymelaeaceae III: the status of Diarthron, Dendrostellera, Stelleropsis and Stellera", Notes from the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh, 40: 213–221, cited in Galicia-Herbada (2006)
  5. Galicia-Herbada, D. (2006), "Origin and diversification of Thymelaea (Thymelaeaceae): inferences from a phylogenetic study based on ITS (rDNA) sequences", Plant Systematics and Evolution, 257 (3–4): 159–187, doi:10.1007/s00606-005-0371-z
  6. van der Bank, Michelle; Fay, Michael F. & Chase, Mark W. (2002), "Molecular Phylogenetics of Thymelaeaceae with particular reference to African and Australian genera", Taxon, 51 (2): 329–339, JSTOR   1554930
  7. Beaumont, Angela J.; Edwards, Trevor J.; Manning, John; Maurin, Olivier; Rautenbach, Marline; Motsi, Moleboheng C.; Fay, Michael F.; Chase, Mark W. & Van Der Bank, Michelle (2009), "Gnidia (Thymelaeaceae) is not monophyletic: taxonomic implications for Thymelaeoideae and a partial new generic taxonomy for Gnidia", Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 160 (4): 402–417, doi: 10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00988.x
  8. "Search results for Diarthron", The Plant List, retrieved 2017-11-26