The Annonaceae are a family of flowering plants consisting of trees, shrubs, or rarely lianas commonly known as the custard apple family or soursop family. With 108 accepted genera and about 2400 known species, it is the largest family in the Magnoliales. Several genera produce edible fruit, most notably Annona, Anonidium, Asimina, Rollinia, and Uvaria. Its type genus is Annona. The family is concentrated in the tropics, with few species found in temperate regions. About 900 species are Neotropical, 450 are Afrotropical, and the remaining are Indomalayan.
Ocimum is a genus of aromatic annual and perennial herbs and shrubs in the family Lamiaceae, native to the tropical and warm temperate regions of all 6 inhabited continents, with the greatest number of species in Africa. It is the genus of basil and its best known species are the cooking herb great basil, O. basilicum, and the medicinal herb tulsi, O. tenuiflorum.
Strophanthus is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1802. It is native primarily to tropical Africa, extending to South Africa, with a few species in Asia from southern India to New Guinea and southern China. The genus name is a compound of the Greek words στροφος (strophos) "twisted" and ανθοσ (anthos) "flower", in reference to the corolla lobes which, in some species - notably S. petersianus - resemble long twisted ribbons or threads and can reach a length of 30–35 cm. This trait, in addition to colouring involving combinations of bright pinks, purples and oranges, combine to make the flowers among the most ornamental in the plant kingdom.
Ancistrocladus is a genus of woody lianas in the monotypic family Ancistrocladaceae. The branches climb by twining other stems or by scrambling with hooked tips. They are found in the tropics of the Old World.
Afrothismia is a genus of myco-heterotrophic plants in the family Burmanniaceae, first described as a genus in 1906. It is native to tropical Africa.
Annickia is a genus of plant in family Annonaceae. Every species of this genus is native to continental Africa, from west Tropical Africa to Tanzania.
Neostenanthera neurosericea is a species of flowering plant in the family Annonaceae. It is a shrub or tree native to southwestern Cameroon and Gabon.
Lettowianthus is a genus of plant in family Annonaceae. It contains a single species, Lettowianthus stellatus, which is found in Kenya and Tanzania.
Mkilua is a genus of plant in the family Annonaceae. It is native to Kenya and Tanzania. It contains a single species, Mkilua fragrans. Bernard Verdcourt, the British botanist who first formally described the species, named it after the fragrance of its flowers which smell like lemon. It is commonly called Mkilua Mwitu, Kilua and Kiluwa in Swahili, and Kingade in Digo. Volatile oils extracted from its leaves, flowers, and aerial parts have been reported to be repellent to Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes which are vectors for the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. Bioactive molecules extracted from its roots have been reported to have antimicrobial activity in tests with Streptococcus agalactiae and Staphylococcus aureus.
Rhaptopetalum is a genus of plants in the family Lecythidaceae.
Toussaintia orientalis is a species of flowering plant in the family Annonaceae native to Tanzania and Kenya. The single known population in Kenya may now be extinct, but the plant is relatively abundant at some sites in Tanzania.
Uvariopsis is a genus of flowering plants in the family Annonaceae. The genus is unique to Africa, and consists of about 18 species, all of which are either ramiflorous, cauliflorous or both.
Stylochaeton is a genus of flowering plants in the family Araceae that is native to Africa. Stylochaeton are rhizomatous with hastate leaves. Flowering in this genus is said to be quite uncommon. Stylochaeton is the sole genus in the tribe Stylochaetoneae.
Uvariopsis zenkeri Engl. is a species of flowering shrub in the family Annonaceae endemic to Cameroon and the Central African Republic.
Asteranthe is a genus of plants in the family Annonaceae. It comprises two species distributed in Kenya and Tanzania.
Monodora grandidieri is a species of plant in the family Annonaceae. It is native to Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia, and Tanzania. Henri Ernest Baillon, the French botanist who first formally described the species, named it after the French naturalist and explorer Alfred Grandidier who collected the specimen Baillon examined. It has been reported to be used as a traditional medicine by the Giriama and Digo people of Kenya.
Mischogyne elliotiana is a species of plant in the Annonaceae family. It is native to Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, and Zaire. Adolf Engler and Ludwig Diels, the German botanists who first formally described the species using the basionym Uvaria elliotiana, named it after George Scott-Elliot the botanist who collected the specimen they examined.
Mischogyne is a genus of plants in the family Annonaceae. It comprises five species distributed in Angola, Cameroon, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Democratic Republic of the Congo. Arthur Wallis Exell the British botanist who first formally described the genus named it after the stalks that bears its reproductive structures.
Annonoideae is a subfamily of plants in the family Annonaceae, with genera distributed in tropical areas world-wide. The family and this subfamily are based on the type genus Annona.
Uvariopsis dicaprio is a species of tropical evergreen tree in the genus Uvariopsis. It is endemic to the Ebo Forest, in the Littoral Region of Cameroon. It was the first new plant species described in 2022, and was named after American actor Leonardo DiCaprio by botanists Martin Cheek and George Gosline, from the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. U. dicaprio is classified as Critically Endangered in the IUCN Red List.
