Mecardonia

Last updated

Mecardonia
Mecardonia procumbens habit.jpg
Mecardonia procumbens
Scientific classification Red Pencil Icon.png
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Plantaginaceae
Tribe: Gratioleae
Genus: Mecardonia
Ruiz & Pav.
Species [1] [2]

Mecardonia acuminata
Mecardonia berroi
Mecardonia caespitosa
Mecardonia exilis
Mecardonia flagellaris
Mecardonia grandiflora
Mecardonia herniarioides
Mecardonia kamogawae
Mecardonia ovata
Mecardonia procumbens
syn. M ovata, M dianthera
Mecardonia pubescens
Mecardonia serpylloides
Mecardonia tenella

Contents

Mecardonia acuminata subsp. peninsularis Axilflower (Mecardonia acuminata subsp. peninsularis) (6303367471).jpg
Mecardonia acuminata subsp. peninsularis

Mecardonia (axilflower) is a genus of herbaceous plants in the family Plantaginaceae. 31 species have been described, [3] of which 12 are accepted. Its distribution is predominantly in South America, and South East United States, including Florida [4] [5] and Alabama [6] [7] but may be found as far north as Virginia. [8] (see map) [9] Five species are found in Argentina [10] and three in the US. [11]

Description

They are herbaceous procumbent glabrous plants. They are mostly blackened when they are dry. Their stems are 5–40 cm in length and they have 4-alate leaves. Ovate leaves 7–25 mm in length and 3–16 mm wide, with a crenate edge; petiolate. Solitary axillary flowers, pedicles 8-20 (-26) mm in length, basally bibracteolate; 5-lobed calyx, with unequal lobes, more or less free to the base, imbricate, the adaxial lobe widely lanceate to ovate, 5-9.5 mm long and 3–6 mm wide, slightly accrescent, the 2 middle lobes longer and overlapping, the 2 abaxial lobes nearly the same size as the adaxial and overlapping the middle lobes; 5-lobed corolla, 7–8 mm long, yellow with purple at the throat, bearded at the mouth; 4 fertile stamens. Ovoid fruit capsule, 5–7 mm long, loculicidal; ovoid, reticulated seeds. [12]

Taxonomy

The genus was described by Ruiz & Pav., published in Florae Peruvianae, et Chilensis Prodromus 95. 1794. [12] [13] The type species is: Mecardonia procumbens Ruiz & Pav. The genus is named after Antonio Meca y Cardona, who founded the botanical gardens in Barcelona, in 1784. [14] [15] [16]

Rossow (1987) in his taxonomic revision of the genus, recognized ten species. A new species, M kamogawae, was identified in Argentina by Greppi and Hagiwara (2011).

Cultivation

Sold as an ornamental garden flower, such as Mecardonia Magic Carpet Yellow, as annuals in colder areas.

Species

Related Research Articles

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

Buddleja is a genus comprising over 140 species of flowering plants endemic to Asia, Africa, and the Americas. The generic name bestowed by Linnaeus posthumously honoured the Reverend Adam Buddle (1662–1715), an English botanist and rector, at the suggestion of Dr. William Houstoun. Houstoun sent the first plants to become known to science as buddleja to England from the Caribbean about 15 years after Buddle's death.

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

Gaultheria is a genus of about 135 species of shrubs in the family Ericaceae. The name commemorates Jean François Gaultier of Quebec, an honour bestowed by the Scandinavian Pehr Kalm in 1748 and taken up by Carl Linnaeus in his Species Plantarum. These plants are native to Asia, Australasia and North and South America. In the past, the Southern Hemisphere species were often treated as the separate genus Pernettya, but no consistent reliable morphological or genetic differences support recognition of two genera, and they are now united in the single genus Gaultheria.

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

Adelia is a genus of flowering plants in the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae, subfamily Acalyphoideae. It is native to Latin America and the Caribbean, with one species extending northward into the southernmost part of Texas.

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

Calceolaria, also called lady's purse, slipper flower and pocketbook flower, or slipperwort, is a genus of plants in the family Calceolariaceae, sometimes classified in Scrophulariaceae by some authors. This genus consists of about 388 species of shrubs, lianas and herbs, and the geographical range extends from Patagonia to central Mexico, with its distribution centre in Andean region. Calceolaria species have usually yellow or orange flowers, which can have red or purple spots. The Calceolaria Herbeohybrida group, also called C. herbeohybrida Voss, is a group of ornamental hybrids known only in cultivation, called florists slipperwort.

<i>Coccocypselum</i> Genus of flowering plants in the coffee family Rubiaceae

Coccocypselum is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It is native to Mexico, Central America, the West Indies and South America. All species of the genus Coccocypselum are herbaceous with fleshy, blue or purple fruits, and 4-petaled flowers.

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

Alonsoa is a genus of 12 species of flowering plants in the family Scrophulariaceae. The genus includes both herbaceous and shrubby species.

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

Angelonia is a genus of about 30 species which occur from Mexico to Argentina and is classified in the Plantaginaceae. They are herbaceous plants occurring mainly in arid and semi-arid habitats. Most Angelonia species can be found in Northeastern Brazil in the Seasonally Dry Tropical Forest namely Caatinga. The flowers of Angelonia are highly specialized for pollination because they have hairs in the inner corolla, which produces oils collected by oil bee pollinators, especially of the genus Centris.

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

Torenia is a genus of plants now classified in the family Linderniaceae. Torenia has also been classified in the figwort family Scrophulariaceae. Often called wishbone flowers, bluewings; in Hawaii nanioola'a or ola'a beauty, some species are grown as garden plants. Many F1 and F2 Torenia hybrids have been hybridized in the last 30 years. Colors can range from white with yellow throats to violet, blue, cobalt, lavender and purple.

<i>Galvezia</i> Genus of plants

Galvezia is a genus of perennial plants which are native to western South America and the Galapagos Islands. The genus is currently placed in the family Plantaginaceae, having been formerly classified under Scrophulariaceae. It is named in honour of José de Gálvez, a colonial official in New Spain during the 1700s.

<i>Alnus acuminata</i> Species of tree

Alnus acuminata is a species of deciduous tree in the Betulaceae family. It is found in montane forests from central Mexico to Argentina.

Philcoxia is a genus of seven rare plant species in the Plantaginaceae that are endemic to Brazil and resemble terrestrial species of the genus Utricularia. The genus, formally described in 2000, consists of the species P. bahiensis, P. goiasensis, P. minensis, P. tuberosa, P. rhizomatosa, P. maranhensis and P. courensis, each of the first three named for the Brazilian state to which it is endemic. The species are characterized by subterranean stems, peltate leaves at or below the soil surface, and five-lobed calyces. Their habitat has been reported as areas of white sand in the midst of cerrado vegetation at an elevation between 800 and 1450 m. Initial descriptions of the genus included suspicions that the plethora of stalked capitate glands on the upper surfaces of leaves was an indication that these species may be carnivorous. A study published in 2007 tested P. minensis for protease activity, a typical test for the carnivorous syndrome, and could detect none. Later studies detected other digestive enzymes such as phosphatases and qualitatively assessed prey digestion and nutrient uptake, suggesting that it is a true carnivorous plant. The genus epithet honors David Philcox (1926-2003), a botanist at Kew Gardens who worked extensively in tropical Scrophulariaceae.

<i>Spermacoce</i> Genus of plants

Spermacoce or false buttonweed is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It comprises about 275 species found throughout the tropics and subtropics. Its highest diversity is found in the Americas, followed by Africa, Australia and Asia.

<i>Chloropyron palmatum</i> Species of flowering plant

Chloropyron palmatum is an endangered species of salt-tolerant, flowering plant in the family Orobanchaceae. It is a low, highly branched herbaceous annual with each flower enclosed by a single, characteristically palmate bract. It is known by the common names of palmate salty bird's-beak and palmate-bract bird's-beak.

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

Asarina is a flowering plant genus of only one species, Asarina procumbens Mill. the trailing snapdragon, which is native to France and Spain and introduced in Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Hungary. Originally placed in the Scrophulariaceae, the genus has more recently been moved to the Plantaginaceae. Species from North America formerly placed in the genus Asarina are now placed in Holmgrenanthe, Lophospermum, Mabrya and Maurandya, as well as Neogaerrhinum. Asarina is now regarded as exclusively an Old World genus.

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

Maurandya is a genus of flowering plants in the family Plantaginaceae, native to Mexico and the south west United States. They sprawl or climb by means of twining leaf stalks. One of the four species, Maurandya barclayana, is widely cultivated as an ornamental plant.

<i>Aureolaria virginica</i> Species of plant

Aureolaria virginica, the downy yellow false foxglove or downy oak leach, is a perennial forb native to the eastern United States and Canada, which produces yellow flowers in summer.

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

Holmgrenanthe petrophila is a rare perennial desert plant in the plantain family (Plantaginaceae), and the sole species of the genus Holmgrenanthe. It forms low mats of branched stems growing from a woody base. The leaves have small spines along their edges. The solitary yellow flowers are tubular with five free lobes at the end, the upper two pointing backwards, the lower three projecting forwards. The species is known only from about ten locations, most in the Titus Canyon and the adjacent Fall Canyon, all within the Californian section of Death Valley National Park. It grows in limestone crevices on the canyon walls, often on the north face.

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

Matourea is a genus in the family Plantaginaceae. It is found in South America. It is the correct name for former genus Achetaria that contained ten species.

Escobedia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Orobanchaceae.

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

Moussonia is a genus of plants in the family Gesneriaceae. Its native range stretches from Mexico to Central America. It is found in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Panamá.

References

  1. USDA
  2. The Plant List
  3. Mecardonia on PlantList
  4. Atlas of Florida Vascular Plants: Mecardonia
  5. The Institute for Regional Conservation
  6. Gardening in the Coastal Southeast
  7. Alabama Plant Atlas: Mecardonia
  8. Digital Atlas of the Virginia Flora
  9. Map of distribution
  10. Alderete, L.; Mori, M.; Kato, A.; Escandón, A.. Establishment of an in vitro micropropagation protocol for Mecardonia tenella. Electronic Journal of Biotechnology, North America, 915 06 2006.
  11. 1 2 3 4 Adjoa Richardson Ahedor. Systematics of the Mecardonia acuminata (tribe Gratioleae, Plantaginaceae) complex of southeastern USA
  12. 1 2 "Mecardonia". Tropicos.org. Missouri Botanical Garden . Retrieved 20 January 2013.
  13. Forzza, R. C. et al. 2010. 2010 Lista de espécies Flora do Brasil. Archived 2014-03-26 at the Wayback Machine
  14. Barcelona: Pel medi ambient. Universitat Gardens
  15. Idárraga-Piedrahita, A., R. D. C. Ortiz, R. Callejas Posada & M. Merello. (eds.) 2011. Fl. Antioquia: Cat. 2: 9–939. Universidad de Antioquia, Medellín.
  16. D. Miguel Colmeiro (1858). Mecardonia. La Botánica y los botánicos de la Península Hispano-Lusitana- Estudios Bibliográficoa y Biográficos. Madrid:Imprenta Rivadeneyra.

Sources