''Meineckia'' is a

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (). The term angiosperm is derived from the Ancient Greek, Greek words (; 'container, vessel') and (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s in the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Phyllanthaceae Phyllanthaceae is a Family (biology), family of flowering plants in the eudicot Order (biology), order Malpighiales. It is most closely related to the family Picrodendraceae.Kenneth J. Wurdack and Charles C. Davis. 2009. "Malpighiales phylogeneti ...

first described as a genus in 1858.Tropicos, ''Meineckia'' Baill.
/ref> ''Meineckia'' is one of eight genera in the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Poranthereae Poranthereae is a tribe in the plant family Phyllanthaceae. It is one of ten tribes in the family, and one of four tribes in the subfamily Phyllanthoideae. Poranthereae comprises about 111 species, distributed into eight genera. The largest gene ...

.Maria S. Vorontsova and Petra Hoffmann. 2008. "A phylogenetic classification of tribe Poranthereae (Phyllanthaceae)." ''Kew Bulletin'' 63(1):41-59. They are

native Native may refer to: People * '' Jus sanguinis'', nationality by blood * '' Jus soli'', nationality by location of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Nat ...

to the

Americas The Americas, sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North America and South America.''Webster's New World College Dictionary'', 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio. When viewed as a sing ...

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

, and

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> The genus is particularly well represented in

. Species of ''Meineckia'' may be

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system comparable with gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy, and contras ...

dioecious Dioecy ( ; ; adj. dioecious, ) is a characteristic of certain species that have distinct unisexual individuals, each producing either male or female gametes, either directly (in animals) or indirectly (in seed plants). Dioecious reproduction is ...

. They are

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, e.g., including only woody plants with secondary growth, only ...

s or

shrub A shrub or bush is a small to medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees by their multiple ...

s, or rarely, they are subherbaceous. ;Species *'' Meineckia acuminata'' –

Morogoro Morogoro is a city located in the eastern part of Tanzania, approximately 196 kilometers (122 miles) west of Dar es Salaam. Retrieved on November 24, 2011. It serves as the capital of the Morogoro Region. Informally, it is referred to as ''Mji ...

*'' Meineckia baronii'' – NW Madagascar *''

Meineckia bartlettii ''Meineckia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Phyllanthaceae first described as a genus in 1858. ''Meineckia'' is one of eight genera in the tribe Poranthereae.Maria S. Vorontsova and Petra Hoffmann. 2008. "A phylogenetic classifica ...

'' –

Jalisco Jalisco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in western Mexico and is bordered by s ...

Chiapas Chiapas, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Chiapas, is one of the states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It comprises Municipalities of Chiapas, 124 municipalities and its capital and large ...

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Ocean at the Gulf of Fonseca, ...

*''

Meineckia calycina ''Meineckia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Phyllanthaceae first described as a genus in 1858. ''Meineckia'' is one of eight genera in the tribe Poranthereae.Maria S. Vorontsova and Petra Hoffmann. 2008. "A phylogenetic classifica ...

'' –

Anamalai Hills The Anamala or Anaimalai, also known as the Elephant Mountains, are a range of mountains in the southern Western Ghats of central Kerala (Idukki district, Ernakulam district, Palakkad district, Thrissur district) and span the border of wester ...

*''

Meineckia capillipes ''Meineckia capillipes'' is a species of plant in the family Phyllanthaceae. It is endemic to Tanzania. Known locally as ''Kizeza-mzitu'', the plant is small (up to 10 meters), with white, soft wood. The leaves are simple and alternate, and the f ...

'' –

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

*''

Meineckia cerebroides ''Meineckia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Phyllanthaceae first described as a genus in 1858. ''Meineckia'' is one of eight genera in the tribe Poranthereae.Maria S. Vorontsova and Petra Hoffmann. 2008. "A phylogenetic classifica ...

'' – SE Madagascar *'' Meineckia decaryi'' – Madagascar *'' Meineckia filipes'' –

Socotra Socotra, locally known as Saqatri, is a Yemeni island in the Indian Ocean. Situated between the Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Sea, it lies near major shipping routes. Socotra is the largest of the six islands in the Socotra archipelago as ...

*'' Meineckia fruticans'' – Kenya, Tanzania *'' Meineckia gracilipes'' – SE Madagascar *'' Meineckia grandiflora'' – Ulanga,

Lindi Lindi is a historic coastal town in southern Tanzania and the administrative center of the Lindi Region, the least populated region in the country. Situated at the head of Lindi Bay along the Indian Ocean, the town is located approximately 10 ...

*'' Meineckia humbertii'' – SW Madagascar *'' Meineckia leandrii'' – W Madagascar *'' Meineckia longipes'' – SW India *'' Meineckia macropus'' –

Mishmi Hills The Mishmi Hills are located at the northeastern tip of India, in northeastern Arunachal Pradesh. On the Chinese side, they form the southern parts of Nyingchi Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region. These hills occur at the junction of Nor ...

*'' Meineckia madagascariensis'' – E Madagascar *'' Meineckia neogranatensis'' – Nicaragua, Colombia, Brazil *'' Meineckia nusbaumeri'' – Madagascar *'' Meineckia nguruensis'' – Nguru *'' Meineckia orientalis'' – E Madagascar *'' Meineckia ovata'' – Teita *'' Meineckia parvifolia'' – S India, Sri Lanka *'' Meineckia paxii'' – Lushoto *'' Meineckia peltata'' – Madagascar *'' Meineckia phyllanthoides'' – C + E Africa,

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

*'' Meineckia pubiflora'' – SW Madagascar *'' Meineckia ranirisonii'' – Madagascar *'' Meineckia stipularis'' – Tanzania *'' Meineckia trichogynis'' – Madagascar *''

Meineckia uzungwaensis ''Meineckia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family (biology), family Phyllanthaceae first described as a genus in 1858. ''Meineckia'' is one of eight genera in the Tribe (biology), tribe Poranthereae.Maria S. Vorontsova and Petra Hoffman ...

'' – Mufindi *'' Meineckia vestita'' – Tanzania *'' Meineckia websteri'' – Madagascar

Circumscription

The

circumscription Circumscription may refer to: * Circumscribed circle * Circumscription (logic) *Circumscription (taxonomy) * Circumscription theory, a theory about the origins of the political state in the history of human evolution proposed by the American anthr ...

of ''Meineckia'' has undergone several changes since

Henri Ernest Baillon Henri Ernest Baillon (; 30 November 1827 in Calais – 19 July 1895 in Paris) was a French botanist and physician. Baillon spent his academic career teaching natural history and publishing numerous works on botany. He was appointed to the Lé ...

erected the genus in 1858.Maria S. Vorontsova, Petra Hoffmann, Olivier Maurin, and Mark W. Chase. 2007. "Phylogenetics of tribe Poranthereae (Phyllanthaceae)." ''American Journal of Botany'' 94(12):2026-2040. Some of its species have been put in other genera and sometimes other genera have been merged with it. The name '' Peltandra'' had been used for some species in ''Meineckia'',''Peltandra'' At: International Plant Names Index (see ''External links'' below). but this is now a nomen rejectum. The name ''Peltandra'' is now conserved as the name of a genus in

Araceae The Araceae are a family of monocotyledonous flowering plants in which flowers are borne on a type of inflorescence called a spadix. The spadix is usually accompanied by, and sometimes partially enclosed in, a spathe (or leaf-like bract). Also ...

.''Peltandra'' In: Index Nominum Genericorum. In:

Regnum Vegetabile The International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) is an organization established to promote an understanding of plant biodiversity, facilitate international communication of research between botanists, and oversee matters of uniformity and ...

(see ''External links'' below). ''Meineckia'' was last revised in 2008 by Vorontsova and Hoffmann. They recognized 30 species and divided the genus into two subgenera. ''Meineckia'' subgenus Petaliferae has only two species: its

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

, ''

'', and '' Meineckia gracilipes''. They are dioecious shrubs from Madagascar. Their petals are very small. ''Meineckia'' subgenus Meineckia has 28 species. Its

type Type may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc. * Data type, collection of values used for computations. * File type * TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file. * ...

species, '' Meineckia phyllanthoides'', is the same as that of the genus.''Meineckia'' At: Index Nominum Genericorum. (see ''External links'' below). They are monoecious or dioecious trees or shrubs, or sometimes, subherbaceous. Their flowers have no petals. This subgenus is the only completely

apetalous Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''coroll ...

taxon In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

in the tribe Poranthereae. Vorontsova and Hoffmann did not recognize ''Zimmermannia'' and ''Zimmermanniopsis'' as separate genera, but placed their species in ''Meineckia'' subgenus ''Meineckia''.

Circumscription

References

External links