''Allenanthus'' was 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 ...

Rubiaceae Rubiaceae () is a family (biology), family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with Petiole ( ...

but is no longer recognized. It has been sunk into

synonymy A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means precisely 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 a ...

with ''

Machaonia ''Machaonia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It has about 32 species.''Machaonia'' At: World Checklist of Rubiaceae At: Kew Gardens Website. (see ''External links'' below). All are indigenous to the neotropics.David J. Ma ...

''.

Taxonomy

''Allenanthus'' was named by Paul Standley in 1940 in

Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden The ''Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden'' is a long-established major peer-reviewed journal of botany, established in 1914 by the Missouri Botanical Garden, under the directorship of botanist and phycologist, George Thomas Moore, and still ...

.Standley PC. 1940. ''Allenanthus'' pages 344-346. In: Woodson RE, Schery RW. "Contributions toward a flora of Panama". ''Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden'' 27(3):265-364. It was named in honor of Paul Hamilton Allen (1911-1963). Until 2004, two

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

had been recognized, but

fieldwork Field research, field studies, or fieldwork is the collection of raw data outside a laboratory, library, or workplace setting. The approaches and methods used in field research vary across disciplines. For example, biologists who conduct f ...

has shown that there is a continuum of variation between them. Comparisons of morphological

characters Character or Characters may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''Character'' (novel), a 1936 Dutch novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk * ''Characters'' (Theophrastus), a classical Greek set of character sketches attributed to Theoph ...

and

DNA sequence A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases within the nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. This succession is denoted by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of the nu ...

s have shown that ''Allenanthus'' is embedded in ''

''. This was confirmed by a

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 * Field of study * Observational study * Scientific study * Research * Study skills, abilities and approaches applied to learning Other * Study ...

of the

subfamily In biological classification, a subfamily (Latin: ', plural ') is an auxiliary (intermediate) taxonomic rank, next below family but more inclusive than genus. Standard nomenclature rules end botanical subfamily names with "-oideae", and zo ...

Cinchonoideae Cinchonoideae is a subfamily of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae and contains about 1700 species in 10 tribes. Tribes * Chiococceae Benth. & Hook.f. * Cinchoneae DC. * Guettardeae DC. * Hamelieae A.Rich. ex DC. * Hymenodictyeae ...

in 2010. Because of these results, ''Allenanthus'' is no longer maintained as a separate genus.

Species

* ''Allenanthus erythrocarpus'' Standl. * ''Allenanthus hondurensis'' Standl.

Taxonomy

Species

References

External links