''Dissotis'' is a genus of plants in the family
Melastomataceae
Melastomataceae () is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants found mostly in the tropics (two-thirds of the genera are from the New World tropics) comprising c. 175 genera and c. 5115 known species. Melastomes are annual or perennial herbs ...
.
It includes nine species of annual or perennial herbs, shrubs, or small trees which are native to tropical
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...
.
Etymology
The generic name is based on the Greek word , which means 'twofold'.
PlantZAfrica, from the ''D. canescens'' page. This refers to the two types of
anther
The stamen (: stamina or stamens) is a part consisting of the male reproductive organs of a flower. Collectively, the stamens form the androecium., p. 10
Morphology and terminology
A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filament ...
s that is a characteristic of this genus.
Taxonomy
Until recently ''Dissotis'' contained dozens of species, organized into four sections – ''Dissotis, Macrocarpae, Sessilifoliae'', and ''Squamulosae''. A 2020 study found that the genus was
polyphyletic
A polyphyletic group is an assemblage that includes organisms with mixed evolutionary origin but does not include their most recent common ancestor. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as Homoplasy, homoplasies ...
, and most species formerly placed in ''Dissotis'' were placed in five new genera – ''
Almedanthus'' (for ''Dissotis pachytricha''), ''
Eleotis'' (for former ''Dissotis'' sect. ''Sessilifoliae''), ''
Feliciotis'' (for former sect. ''Macrocarpae''), ''
Pyrotis'' (for ''D. gilgiana'') and ''
Rosettea'' (for former sect. ''Squamulosae'') – or into the existing or revived genera ''
Antherotoma'', ''
Derosiphia'', and ''
Nerophila''.
[Veranso-Libalah, M.C., Stone, R.D. and Kadereit, G. (2020), Towards a complete phylogeny of African Melastomateae: Systematics of Dissotis and allies (Melastomataceae). TAXON, 69: 946-991. https://doi.org/10.1002/tax.12317]
Species
As accepted by Kew;
*''
Dissotis elegans''
*''
Dissotis grandiflora''
*''
Dissotis homblei''
*''
Dissotis idanreensis''
*''
Dissotis lebrunii''
*''
Dissotis leonensis''
*''
Dissotis longisetosa''
*''
Dissotis splendens''
*''
Dissotis swynnertonii''
References
External links
*
*
{{Taxonbar, from=Q8560453
Melastomataceae genera
Melastomataceae
Flora of the Afrotropical realm
Taxa named by George Bentham