''Conocarpus'' is a genus of two species of

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 t ...

s in the family

Combretaceae The Combretaceae, often called the white mangrove family, are a family of flowering plants in the order Myrtales. The family includes about 530 species of trees, shrubs, and lianas in ca 10 genera. The family includes the leadwood tree, ''Combret ...

, native to tropical regions of the world. One of the species is a widespread

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

species, and the other is restricted to a small area around the southern

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

coasts, where it grows alongside seasonal rivers. They are dense multiple-trunked

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 tree ...

s or small to medium-sized

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 from 1 to 20 m tall. The generic name is derived from the

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

words κονος (''konos''), meaning "cone" and καρπος (''karpos'') meaning "fruit".

Distribution

''C. erectus'' is native to the coasts of tropical America from Bermuda, the Bahamas, and southern Florida through the West Indies, from Mexico south on the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean, and Atlantic Coasts to Brazil, and on the Pacific Coast from Mexico to Peru, including the Galapagos Islands, and on the coast of western Africa from Senegal to the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

. It has been rarely introduced elsewhere. ''C. lancifolius'' is native to

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constitut ...

and

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast and ...

, and is cultivated in eastern and northern Africa and the Arabian peninsula.

List of species

* ''Conocarpus acuminatus'' Roxb. ex DC. synonym of ''

Anogeissus acuminata ''Terminalia phillyreifolia'' is an Asian species of tree in the family Combretaceae. It has been called buttontree or yon (from ; IPA: ). It is a medium-sized tree found in both primary and secondary tropical and sub-tropical forests. It is rec ...

'' (Roxb. ex DC.) Wall. ex Guillem. & Perr. * ''Conocarpus acutifolius'' Willd. ex Schult. synonym of ''Conocarpus erectus'' L. * ''

Conocarpus erectus ''Conocarpus erectus'', commonly called buttonwood or button mangrove, is a mangrove shrub in the family Combretaceae. This species grows on shorelines in tropics, tropical and subtropics, subtropical Pantropical, regions around the world. Range ...

'' L. ** ''C. e.'' var.'' arboreus'' DC. synonym of ''Conocarpus erectus'' L. ** ''C. e.'' var.'' argenteus'' Millsp. synonym of ''Conocarpus erectus'' L. ** ''C. e.'' f.''erectus'' synonym of ''Conocarpus erectus'' L. ** ''C. e.'' var.'' erectus'' synonym of ''Conocarpus erectus'' L. ** ''C. e.'' var.'' procumbens'' DC. synonym of ''Conocarpus erectus'' L. **''C. e.'' f. ''sericeus'' (E.Forst. ex DC.) Stace synonym of ''Conocarpus erectus'' L. ** ''C. e.'' var.'' sericeus'' E.Forst. ex DC. synonym of ''Conocarpus erectus'' L. * ''Conocarpus hirtus'' Buch.-Ham. ex Wall. (Unresolved) * ''Conocarpus lanceolatus'' B.Heyne ex Wall. (Unresolved) * '' Conocarpus lancifolius'' Engl. * ''Conocarpus latifolius'' Roxb. ex DC. synonym of ''

Anogeissus latifolia ''Anogeissus latifolia'' is a species of small to medium-sized tree native to the India, Nepal, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. Its common names are axlewood (English), ''bakli, baajhi, dhau, dhawa, dhawra'', or ''dhaora'' (Hindi), ''takhian-nu'' ( Thai) ...

'' (Roxb. ex DC.) Wall. ex Guillem. & Perr. * ''Conocarpus leiocarpus'' DC. synonym of ''

Anogeissus leiocarpa ''Anogeissus leiocarpa'' (African birch; bm, ngálǎma) is a tall deciduous tree native to the savannas of tropical Africa. It is the sole West African species of the genus ''Anogeissus'', a genus otherwise distributed from tropical central ...

'' (DC.) Guill. & Perr. * ''Conocarpus monocarpus'' Steud. (Unresolved) * ''Conocarpus myrtifolius'' Buch.-Ham. ex Wall. synonym of '' Anogeissus pendula'' Edgew. * ''Conocarpus niloticus'' Delile ex Steud. (Unresolved) * ''Conocarpus novae-zeylandiae'' Cels ex Ten. (Unresolved) * ''Conocarpus parvifolius'' Hochst. ex A.Rich. (Unresolved) * ''Conocarpus procumbens'' L. synonym of ''Conocarpus erectus'' L. * ''Conocarpus pubescens'' Schumach. & Thonn. (Unresolved) * ''Conocarpus racemosus'' L. synonym of ''Laguncularia racemosa'' (L.) C.F.Gaertn. * ''Conocarpus schimperi'' Hochst. ex A.Rich. synonym of ''

'' (DC.) Guill. & Perr. * ''Conocarpus sericeus'' J.R.Forst. ex G.Don synonym of ''Conocarpus erectus'' L. * ''Conocarpus sericeus'' (Griseb.) Jiménez synonym of ''Conocarpus erectus'' L. * ''Conocarpus supina'' Crantz synonym of ''Conocarpus erectus'' L.

Formerly placed here

*''

'' (Roxb. ex DC.) Wall. ex Guill. & Perr. (as ''C. acuminatus'' Roxb. ex DC.) *''

'' (Roxb. ex DC.) Wall. ex Guill. & Perr. (as ''C. latifolius'' Roxb. ex DC.) *''

'' (DC.) Guill. & Perr. (as ''C. leiocarpus'' DC.) *'' Anogeissus pendula'' Edgew. *''

Laguncularia racemosa ''Laguncularia racemosa'', the white mangrove, is a species of flowering plant in the leadwood tree family, Combretaceae. It is native to the coasts of western Africa from Senegal to Cameroon, the Atlantic Coast of the Americas from Bermuda and ...

'' (L.) C.F.Gaertn. (as ''C. racemosus'' L.)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q260261 Myrtales genera