''Capitanopsis oreophila'',

synonym 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 ...

''Plectranthus bipinnatus'', is a species of

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 ...

in the family

Lamiaceae The Lamiaceae ( ) or Labiatae are a family (biology), family of flowering plants commonly known as the mint, deadnettle, or sage family. Many of the plants are aromatic in all parts and include widely used culinary herbs like basil (herb), ba ...

. It is a small shrub native to Madagascar, where it is commonly known as ''andriamborondrao''.

Range and habitat

''Capitanopsis oreophila'' is native to southeastern Madagascar. It is found on humid, subhumid, and high-elevation rock faces and

inselberg An inselberg or monadnock ( ) is an isolated rock hill, knob, ridge, or small mountain that rises abruptly from a gently sloping or virtually level surrounding plain. In Southern Africa, a similar formation of granite is known as a koppie, an ...

s between 500 and 2,500 meters elevation.

Taxonomy

The species was first described in 1930 by

André Guillaumin André Louis Joseph Edmond Armand Guillaumin (21 June 1885 in Arrou – 29 May 1974 in Athis-Mons) was a French botanist. He obtained his license in biology in 1906 and began work in the ''Muséum national d'histoire naturelle'' in Paris in ...

, as ''Perrierastrum oreophilum'', the only species in his genus ''Perrierastrum''. In 2003, Alan James Paton decided that the genus should be sunk into ''

Plectranthus ''Plectranthus'' is a genus of about 85 species of flowering plants from the sage family, Lamiaceae, found mostly in southern and tropical Africa and Madagascar. Common names include spur-flower. ''Plectranthus'' species are herbaceous perennial ...

''. As the name ''Plectranthus oreophilus'' had already been used (in 1912), Paton coined the

replacement name In biological nomenclature, a ''nomen novum'' (Latin for "new name"), replacement name (or new replacement name, new substitute name, substitute name) is a replacement scientific name that is created when technical, nomenclatural reasons have mad ...

''Plectranthus bipinnatus''. A major

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

study of the subtribe Plectranthinae in 2018 showed that ''Plectranthus bipinnatus'' was embedded in a clade containing the then three species of ''Capitanopsis'', so ''P. bipinnatus'' was transferred to ''Capitanopsis'' under the original epithet.

References

Lamiaceae Endemic flora of Madagascar Plants described in 1930 Flora of the Madagascar lowland forests Flora of the Madagascar subhumid forests Flora of the Madagascar ericoid thickets {{Lamiaceae-stub