Gnidia

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Gnidia
Gnidia tomentosa.jpg
Gnidia tomentosa
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malvales
Family: Thymelaeaceae
Subfamily: Thymelaeoideae
Genus: Gnidia
L.
Species

140-160, see text

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. [1] Gnidia was named for Knidos, an Ancient Greek city located in modern-day Turkey. [2]

These are perennial herbs and shrubs, sometimes with rhizomes. Most species have alternately arranged leaves, and a few have opposite leaves. The leaves are undivided and unlobed. The inflorescence is a head of a few to many flowers. The calyx is cylindrical and the colored lobes may alternate with the petals; some species lack petals. [2] Many species are similar in appearance and difficult to tell apart. [3]

Molecular analyses have provided evidence that the genus is polyphyletic, made up of four different lineages. They are related to the four genera Struthiola , Drapetes , Lasiosiphon , and Pimelea . [4]

There are 140 to 160 species classified in the genus. [1] [2] [5]

Species include:

Gnidia polystachya Gnidia polystachya.jpg
Gnidia polystachya
Gnidia glauca Gnidia glauca 1.jpg
Gnidia glauca

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

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<i>Adenia</i> Genus of plants

Adenia is a genus of flowering plants in the passionflower family, Passifloraceae. It is distributed in the Old World tropics and subtropics. The centers of diversity are in Madagascar, eastern and western tropical Africa, and Southeast Asia. The genus name Adenia comes from "aden", reported as the Arabic name for the plant by Peter Forsskål, the author of the genus.

<i>Leptotes</i> (plant) Genus of orchids

Leptotes, abbreviated Lpt in horticultural trade, is a genus of orchids formed by nine small species that grow in the dry jungles of south and southeast Brazil, and also in Paraguay or Argentina. They are small epiphytic plants of caespitose growth that sometimes resemble little Brassavola, as they share the same type of thin terete leaves, though they are more closely related to Loefgrenianthus.

Solmsia is a genus containing one or two species of flowering plants belonging to the family Thymelaeaceae. It is endemic to New Caledonia. The genus was named to honor Hermann zu Solms-Laubach by Henri Ernest Baillon. It is related to Arnhemia, Deltaria, Gonystylus and Lethedon.

<i>Struthiola</i>

Struthiola is a genus of plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. In habit they are ericoid shrubs or shrublets.

Families of Asparagales

The Asparagales are an order of plants, and on this page the structure of the order is used according to the APG III system. The order takes its name from the family Asparagaceae and is placed in the monocots. The order is clearly circumscribed on the basis of DNA sequence analysis, but is difficult to define morphologically, since its members are structurally diverse. The APG III system is used in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families from the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. With this circumscription, the order consists of 14 families with approximately 1120 genera and 26000 species.

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.

Lethedon is a genus of shrubs in the Thymelaeaceae family from Australia and New Caledonia. It is related to Arnhemia, Deltaria, Gonystylus and Solmsia.

<i>Stellera</i>

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.

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.

<i>Struthiola striata</i> A shrub in the Thymelaeaceae family from South Africa

Struthiola striata is a rounded, heather-like shrub of up to 1.5 m (4.9 ft) high that is assigned to the Thymelaeaceae family. It has small assending leaves on long straight branches, with cream, soft yellow or pinkish flowers in spikes, each of which consist of a tube of about 1 cm (0.39 in) long with 4 oval sepal lobes and 4 yellow alternating petal-like scales. It is sometimes called ribbed capespray or featherhead in English and roemenaggie, katstertjie or veërtjie in Afrikaans. It grows on coastal flats and foothills in the Western Cape province of South Africa.

Struthiola tetralepis is a willowy shrublet of up to 30 cm (0.98 ft) high that is assigned to the family Thymelaeaceae. It has long straight branches that are initially hairy and are covered in leaves pressed against them. These leaves are small, overlapping, lance-shaped, scharply pointed, have a regular row of hairs along the margins, and 3-5 veins are visible on the outward facing surface. It has initially greenish yellow, later reddish brown flowers, each of which consists of a tube of about 1 cm (0.39 in) long with 4 lance-shaped, pointed sepal lobes and 4 yellow alternating petal-like scales. It flowers between October and February. It can be found in the southwest of the Western Cape province of South Africa. It is sometimes called cross capespray in English.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Rogers, Z. S. (2006). A new species of Malagasy Gnidia and the lectotypification of Octolepis decalepis (Thymelaeaceae). Adansonia, sér. 3(28), 155-60.
  2. 1 2 3 Hyde, M. A., et al. Gnidia. Flora of Zimbabwe. 2013.
  3. Beaumont, A. J., et al. (2001). Patterns of diversity among involucral bracts, inflorescences and flowers in Gnidia (Thymelaeaceae). Systematics and Geography of Plants 71(2), 419-31.
  4. Beaumont, A. J., et al. (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), 402-17. doi : 10.1111/j.1095-8339.2009.00988.x
  5. Bhandurge, P., et al. (2013). The Gnidia genus: A review. Asian Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences 3(19), 1-31.