Cyphomandra
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Cyphomandra | ||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
fruit of Tamarillo, Cyphomandra betacea
|
||||||||||||
Scientific classification | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
Species | ||||||||||||
(incomplete list) |
Cyphomandra is a genus in the nightshade or potato family of flowering plants, Solanaceae. There are about 35 species in the genus, native to countries of the Americas from Mexico southwards to Northern Argentina; several new species have been described in recent decades. The best known species in the genus is the widely cultivated Tamarillo or tree tomato, but a number of the others are also cultivated as garden plants because of their attractive flowers or fruits. Several also have traditional uses in the regions where they are native. Most grow as shrubs or small trees 2 or 3 metres in height.
Recent authors have treated Cyphomandra as a clade within the genus Solanum rather than as a separate genus.
[edit] References
- Bohs, L. 1988. Four new species of Cyphomandra (Solanaceae) from South America. Systematic Botany 13: 265-275.
- Bohs, L. 1989. Ethnobotany of the genus Cyphomandra (Solanaceae). Economic Botany 43: 143-163.
- Bohs, L. 1994. Cyphomandra (Solanaceae). Flora Neotropica 63: 1-175. (Monographic revision)