Volkameria

Volkameria
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
(unranked): Asterids
Order: Lamiales
Family: Lamiaceae
Genus: Volkameria
L.
Type species
Volkameria aculeata
L.
Species

about 30 species (See text)

Volkameria is a genus of flowering plants in the family; Lamiaceae. It has about 30 species and is pantropical in distribution. [1] Many of the species are found in coastal habitats. The type species for the genus is Volkameria aculeata. [2]

The species of Volkameria are mostly shrubs, sometimes subshrubs or lianas, rarely small trees. The stems have swollen nodes. The flowers are usually fragrant. The fruit matures black or brown, separating into four corky pyrenes.

Volkameria aculeata and Volkameria glabra are grown as ornamentals in the tropics. [3] Volkameria heterophylla is also known in cultivation. [4] Volkameria inermis is planted as a sand binder. [5]

Contents

Species

The 30 or so species of Volkameria include the following: [1]

  • Volkameria aculeata
  • Volkameria aggregata
  • Volkameria glabra
  • Volkameria heterophylla  
  • Volkameria inermis
  • Volkameria ligustrina
  • Volkameria linifolia

History

Volkameria was named by Linnaeus in Species Plantarum in 1753. [6] According to OED the genus was named after Johann Georg Volckamer (1616-1693), a German botanist, though other sources give credit to his son, Johann Georg Volckamer, the Younger (1662-1744), [7] or to Johann Christoph Volkamer (1644-1720), another German botanist.

In 1895, John Isaac Briquet defined the genus Clerodendrum broadly, to include all of those species now placed in Rotheca, Clerodendrum, Volkameria, and Ovieda. [8] This was considered questionable by many, but for the next 100 years, Briquet's circumscription was usually followed, mostly because of confusion and uncertainty regarding this group of at least 200 species. [1]

In 2010, a molecular phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences showed that most of the Clerodendrum species that had been in Volkameria were more closely related to Aegiphila, Ovieda, Tetraclea, and Amasonia than to other species of Clerodendrum. [1] (See the phylogenetic tree at Lamiaceae). Following these results, Volkameria was reinstated. Some species that had been erroneously placed in Volkameria were excluded. Some of the poorly known species in Clerodendrum might still need to be transferred to Volkameria.

Gallery

References

  1. ^ a b c d Yao-Wu Yuan, David J. Mabberly, Dorothy A. Steane, and Richard G. Olmstead. 2010. "Further disintegration and redefinition of Clerodendrum (Lamiaceae): Implications for the understanding of the evolution of an intriguing breeding strategy". Taxon 59(1):125-133.
  2. ^ Volkameria In: Index Nominum Genericorum. In: Regnum Vegetabile (see External links below).
  3. ^ George W. Staples and Derral R. Herbst "A Tropical Garden Flora" Bishop Museum Press: Honolulu (2005)
  4. ^ Anthony J. Huxley, Mark Griffiths, and Margot Levy (editors). 1992. The New Royal Horticultural Society Dictionary of Gardening. The Macmillan Press Limited, London; The Stockton Press, New York.
  5. ^ David J. Mabberley. 2008. Mabberley's Plant-Book third edition (2008). Cambridge University Press: UK. ISBN 978-0-521-82071-4
  6. ^ Volkameria page 637. In: Carolus Linnaeus. 1753. Species Plantarum volume 2. Laurentii Salvii. (see External Links below).
  7. ^ Umberto Quattrocchi. 2000. CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names volume IV, page 2809. CRC Press: Boca Raton; New York; Washington,DC;, USA. London, UK. ISBN 978-0-8493-2673-8 (set). (see External links below).
  8. ^ John Isaac Briquet. 1895. "Clerodendrum" pages 174-176. In: "Verbenaceae" pages 132-182. In: Die Natürlichen Pflanzenfamilien volume IV, part 3a. Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann: Leipzig, Germany.

External links