Houttuynia

Houttuynia
Houttuynia cordata
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Magnoliids
Order: Piperales
Family: Saururaceae
Genus: Houttuynia
Thunb.
Species

Houttuynia is a genus of two species in the Saururaceae native to Southeast Asia. One species, H. cordata, is widely cultivated as a culinary herb. The genus was originally described in 1783 by Carl Peter Thunberg when he formally described H. cordata as the only species. It remained a monotypic genus until 2001 when Zheng Yin Zhu and Shi Liang Zhang discovered and described a second species native to China, H. emeiensis.[1]

References

  1. Wu Wei, Zheng Youliang, Chen Li, Wei Yuming, Yan Zehong, and Yang Ruiwu. 2005. PCR-RFLP analysis of cpDNA and mtDNA in the genus Houttuynia in some areas of China. Hereditas 142: 24-32.