''Coleus fredericii'',

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 welwitschii'', is a species of plant 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 ...

. The epithet is also spelt ''frederici''. The species was originally described by

John Isaac Briquet John Isaac Briquet (13 March 1870 in Geneva – 26 October 1931 in Geneva) was a Switzerland, Swiss botanist, director of the ''Conservatoire Botanique'' at Geneva. He received his education in natural sciences at Geneva and Berlin,

in 1894, as ''Neomuellera welwitschii''. It was transferred to the genus ''

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 ...

'' by

Leslie Codd Leslie Edward Wostall Codd (16 September 1908 in Vants Drift, Dundee, District, Natal – 2 March 1999 in Pretoria), was a South African plant taxonomist. Life Codd was born in 1908. He attended the Natal University College where he obtained a ...

in 1972. A 2018

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 showed that ''Plectranthus'', as then

circumscribed In geometry, a circumscribed circle for a set of points is a circle passing through each of them. Such a circle is said to ''circumscribe'' the points or a polygon formed from them; such a polygon is said to be ''inscribed'' in the circle. * Circum ...

was not

monophyletic In biological cladistics for the classification of organisms, monophyly is the condition of a taxonomic grouping being a clade – that is, a grouping of organisms which meets these criteria: # the grouping contains its own most recent co ...

, and so revived the then defunct genus ''

Coleus ''Coleus'' (, ) is a genus of annual or perennial herbs or shrubs, sometimes succulent, sometimes with a fleshy or tuberous rootstock, found in the Afro-Eurasia tropics and subtropics. The relationship among the genera ''Coleus'', '' Solenoste ...

''. Since the name '' Coleus welwitschii'' had already been used for a different species, Taylor's name ''Coleus fredericii'' was used instead.

References

* Fl. Pl. Africa 42: t. 1646 1972.
JSTOR entry
(as ''P. welwitschii'') fredericii {{Lamiaceae-stub