''Soyauxia'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

flowering plant Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...

s in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Peridiscaceae.Clemens Bayer. 2007. "Peridiscaceae" pages 297-300. In: Klaus Kubitski (editor). ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' volume IX. Springer-Verlag: Berlin;Heidelberg, Germany. They are small

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, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s or erect

shrub A shrub (often also called a 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 ...

s from wet

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

s of

tropical The tropics are the regions of Earth surrounding the Equator. They are defined in latitude by the Tropic of Cancer in the Northern Hemisphere at N and the Tropic of Capricorn in the Southern Hemisphere at S. The tropics are also referred to ...

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, Maurit ...

. Eight

specific name Specific name may refer to: * in Database management systems, a system-assigned name that is unique within a particular database In taxonomy, either of these two meanings, each with its own set of rules: * Specific name (botany), the two-part (bino ...

s have been published in ''Soyauxia''."Soyauxia" At: International Plant Names Index. (see ''External links'' below). Additional species have been discovered, but their

names A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A persona ...

and descriptions will not be published until 2009 or 2010. The

type species In 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 species that contains the biological type specimen ...

for the genus is Soyauxia gabonensis.''Soyauxia'' In: Index Nominum Genericorum. In: Regnum Vegetabile (see ''External links'' below). ''Soyauxia'' was long considered an anomaly and it has been variously classified by different authors, usually in

Passifloraceae The Passifloraceae are a family of flowering plants, containing about 750 species classified in around 27 genera. They include trees, shrubs, lianas, and climbing plants, and are mostly found in tropical regions. The family takes its name from t ...

or in the

defunct Defunct (no longer in use or active) may refer to: * ''Defunct'' (video game), 2014 * Zombie process or defunct process, in Unix-like operating systems See also * * :Former entities * End-of-life product * Obsolescence Obsolescence is t ...

plant family Flacourtiaceae. The first

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study Study or studies may refer to: General * Education **Higher education * Clinical trial * Experiment * Observational study * Research * Study skills, abilities and approaches applied to learning Other * Study (art), a drawing or series of drawi ...

to include ''Soyauxia'' placed it in Peridiscaceae.Soltis, D. E.; Clayton, J. W.; Davis, C. C.; Gitzendanner, M. A.; Cheek, M.; Savolainen, V.; Amorim, A. M.; Soltis, P. S. (2007):Monophyly and relationships of the enigmatic family Peridiscaceae. ''Taxon'' 56(1):65-73. Its position within that family was determined in 2009.Kenneth J. Wurdack and Charles C. Davis. 2009. "Malpighiales phylogenetics: Gaining ground on one of the most recalcitrant clades in the angiosperm tree of life." ''American Journal of Botany'' 96(8):1551-1570.

Species

''Soyauxia'' contains the following species (but this list may be incomplete or contain

synonyms A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

.): * '' Soyauxia bipindensis'',

Gilg Gilg is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Candice Gilg (born 1972), French freestyle skier * Deborah R. Gilg (born 1951), American lawyer *Ernest Friedrich Gilg (1867–1933), German botanist *Karl Gilg (1901–1981), German ches ...

Baker f. Edmund Gilbert Baker (1864–1949) was a British plant collector and botanist. He was the son of John Gilbert Baker. Works * ''Synopsis of Malveae'', 1895 * ''The plants of Milanji, Nyassa-land''. Con James Britten. 1894 * ''Catalogue of the Pl ...

* ''

Soyauxia floribunda ''Soyauxia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Peridiscaceae.Clemens Bayer. 2007. "Peridiscaceae" pages 297-300. In: Klaus Kubitski (editor). ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' volume IX. Springer-Verlag: Berlin;Heidelber ...

'', Hutchinson * '' Soyauxia gabonensis'',

Oliv. Daniel Oliver, FRS (6 February 1830, Newcastle upon Tyne – 21 December 1916) was an English botanist. He was Librarian of the Herbarium, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew from 1860–1890 and Keeper there from 1864–1890, and Professor of Botany at ...

* ''

Soyauxia glabrescens ''Soyauxia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Peridiscaceae.Clemens Bayer. 2007. "Peridiscaceae" pages 297-300. In: Klaus Kubitski (editor). ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' volume IX. Springer-Verlag: Berlin;Heidelber ...

'', Engler * ''

Soyauxia grandifolia ''Soyauxia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Peridiscaceae.Clemens Bayer. 2007. "Peridiscaceae" pages 297-300. In: Klaus Kubitski (editor). ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' volume IX. Springer-Verlag: Berlin;Heidelber ...

'',

& Stapf * '' Soyauxia ledermanii'',

Sleumer Hermann Otto Sleumer (February 21, 1906 in Saarbrücken – October 1, 1993 in Oegstgeest) was a Dutch botanist of German birth. The plant genera ''Sleumerodendron'' Virot ( Proteaceae) and ''Sleumeria'' Utteridge, Nagam. & Teo (Icacinaceae T ...

* '' Soyauxia talbotii'',

* '' Soyauxia velutina'', Hutchinson &

Dalziel Dalziel, Dalzell or Dalyell ( ) is a Scottish surname. Pronunciation The unintuitive spelling of the name is due to it being an anglicisation of Scottish Gaelic ''Dail-gheal'', meaning bright dale. The sound now spelled with a or is historica ...

History

The genus ''Soyauxia'' was named by Daniel Oliver in 1880, in a book whose final edition was entitled ''Hooker's

Icones Plantarum ''Icones Plantarum'' is an extensive series of published volumes of botanical illustration, initiated by Sir William Jackson Hooker. The Latin name of the work means "Illustrations of Plants". The illustrations are drawn from herbarium specimens o ...

''.Joseph Dalton Hooker. 1880. ''Hooker's Icones Plantarum'' volume XIV (volume IV of the third series):page 73 and plate 1393. (see ''External links'' at

). It was named for the

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ger ...

botanist and plant collector Hermann Soyaux. Upon naming it, Oliver wrote Oliver placed the new genus in Passifloraceae and described one species, ''Soyauxia gabonensis''. In 1953, John Brenan put ''Soyauxia'' in

Medusandraceae ''Medusandra'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Peridiscaceae."Peridiscaceae" At: Peter F. Stevens (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. At: Missouri Botanical Garden Website. (see external links below) It has two species, ''M ...

,John P.M. Brenan. 1953. "''Soyauxia'', a second genus of Medusandraceae". ''Kew Bulletin'' 8:507-511. a family that he had established the year before.John P.M. Brenan. 1952. "Plants of the Cambridge Expedition, 1947-1948: II. A new order of flowering plants from the British Cameroons". ''Kew Bulletin'' 7:227-236. Brenan's classification was not generally followed by others, and John Hutchinson wrote a detailed account of why he thought that ''Soyauxia'' and ''

Medusandra ''Medusandra'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Peridiscaceae."Peridiscaceae" At: Peter F. Stevens (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. At: Missouri Botanical Garden Website. (see external links below) It has two species, '' ...

'' were not closely related.John Hutchinson. ''The Families of Flowering Plants, Third Edition (1973)''. Oxford University Press: London. In 2007, in the first comparison of

DNA sequence DNA sequencing is the process of determining the nucleic acid sequence – the order of nucleotides in DNA. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four bases: adenine, guanine, cytosine, and thymine. Th ...

s to include ''Soyauxia'', it was shown that ''Soyauxia'' is sister to a

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

of two

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

n trees, ''

Peridiscus ''Peridiscus lucidus'' is a species of flowering plant, the only species in the genus ''Peridiscus'', which is one of four genera within the family Peridiscaceae. It grows in Venezuela and northern Brazil, in evergreen, sometimes riverine forest ...

'' and ''

Whittonia ''Whittonia'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Peridiscaceae. It only contains one known species, 'Whittonia guianensis'Sandwith It is native to Guyana. The genus name of ''Whittonia'' is in honour of Brian Alan ...

''. The authors recommended that ''Soyauxia'' be moved to Peridiscaceae. The position of ''Soyauxia'' within Peridiscaceae was clarified in 2009, with the inclusion of ''Medusandra'' in a

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

study. In that study, it was shown that Brenan's concept of Medusandraceae is

paraphyletic In taxonomy (general), taxonomy, a group is paraphyletic if it consists of the group's most recent common ancestor, last common ancestor and most of its descendants, excluding a few Monophyly, monophyletic subgroups. The group is said to be pa ...

over Peridiscaceae

sensu stricto ''Sensu'' is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of". It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, semiotics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used in describing any particular co ...

, but that Brenan had been prescient in his perception of a relationship between ''Medusandra'' and ''Soyauxia''. The authors recommended that ''Medusandra'' as well as ''Soyauxia'' be transferred to Peridiscaceae.

Species

History

References

External links