''Gnidia'' is 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 ...
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 ...
s in the family
Thymelaeaceae
The Thymelaeaceae are a cosmopolitan family (biology), family of flowering plants composed of 50 genera (listed below) and 898 species.Zachary S. Rogers (2009 onwards)A World Checklist of Thymelaeaceae (version 1) Missouri Botanical Garden Webs ...
. It is distributed in tropical and southern
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 ...
and
Madagascar
Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...
;
[ more than half of all the species are ]endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...
to South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
.[Rogers, Z. S. (2006)]
A new species of Malagasy ''Gnidia'' and the lectotypification of ''Octolepis decalepis'' (Thymelaeaceae).
''Adansonia, sér.'' 3(28), 155-60. ''Gnidia'' was named for Knidos
Knidos or Cnidus (; , , , Knídos) was a Greek city in ancient Caria and part of the Dorian Hexapolis, in south-western Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. It was situated on the Datça peninsula, which forms the southern side of the Sinus Cerami ...
, an Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek (, ; ) includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the classical antiquity, ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Greek ...
city located in modern-day Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
.[Hyde, M. A., et al]
''Gnidia''.
Flora of Zimbabwe. 2013.
These are perennial herbs and shrub
A shrub or 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 trees by their multiple ...
s, sometimes with rhizome
In botany and dendrology, a rhizome ( ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and Shoot (botany), shoots from its Node (botany), nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from ...
s. Most species have alternately arranged leaves, and a few have opposite leaves. The leaves are undivided and unlobed. The inflorescence
In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a system of branches. An inflorescence is categorized on the basis of the arrangement of flowers on a mai ...
is a head of a few to many flowers. The calyx
CALYX, Inc. is a non-profit publisher of art and literature by women founded in 1976 based in Corvallis, Oregon. CALYX publishes both '' CALYX, A Journal of Art and Literature by Women'' twice a year and CALYX Books, which publishes one to three ...
is cylindrical and the colored lobes may alternate with the petal
Petals are modified leaves that form an inner whorl surrounding the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often brightly coloured or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''corol ...
s; some species lack petals.[ Many species are similar in appearance and difficult to tell apart.
Molecular analyses have provided evidence that the genus is ]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 ...
, made up of four different lineages. They are related to the four genera '' Struthiola'', '' Drapetes'', '' Lasiosiphon'', and ''Pimelea
''Pimelea'', commonly known as rice flowers, is a genus of plants belonging to the family Thymelaeaceae. There are about 150 species, including 110 in Australia and 36 in New Zealand.
Description
Plants in the genus ''Pimelea'' are her ...
''.[Beaumont, A. J., et al. (2009)]
''Gnidia'' (Thymelaeaceae) is not monophyletic: taxonomic implications for Thymelaeoideae and a partial new generic taxonomy for ''Gnidia''.
''Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society'' 160(4), 402-17.
Formerly 140 to 160 species were classified in the genus.[Bhandurge, P., et al. (2013)]
The ''Gnidia'' genus: A review.
''Asian Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences'' 3(19), 1-31. Many have been reassigned to other genera and Plants of the World Online
Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.
History
Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...
currently accepts 104 species.[
]
Species
104 species are accepted.[
*'' Gnidia aberrans''
*'' Gnidia anomala''
*'' Gnidia apiculata''
*'' Gnidia bambutana''
*'' Gnidia baumiana''
*'' Gnidia baurii''
*'' Gnidia burmanni''
*'' Gnidia caniflora''
*'' Gnidia cayleyi''
*'' Gnidia chapmanii''
*'' Gnidia chrysantha''
*'' Gnidia chrysophylla''
*'' Gnidia clavata''
*'' Gnidia compacta''
*'' Gnidia coriacea''
*'' Gnidia cyanea''
*'' Gnidia decurrens''
*'' Gnidia dekindtiana''
*'' Gnidia dumicola''
*'' Gnidia elkerensis''
*'' Gnidia ericoides''
*'' Gnidia fastigiata''
*'' Gnidia flanaganii''
*'' Gnidia foliosa''
*'' Gnidia francisci''
*'' Gnidia fraterna''
*'' Gnidia fruticulosa''
*'' Gnidia fulgens''
*'' Gnidia galpinii''
*'' Gnidia geminiflora''
*'' Gnidia goetzeana''
*'' Gnidia gossweileri''
*'' Gnidia gymnostachya''
*'' Gnidia harveyana''
*'' Gnidia hirsuta''
*'' Gnidia hockii''
*'' Gnidia humilis''
*'' Gnidia imbricata''
*'' Gnidia inconspicua''
*'' Gnidia insignis''
*'' Gnidia involucrata''
*'' Gnidia juniperifolia''
*'' Gnidia kasaiensis''
*'' Gnidia kundelungensis''
*'' Gnidia laxa''
*'' Gnidia leipoldtii''
*'' Gnidia linearifolia''
*'' Gnidia linoides''
*'' Gnidia meyeri''
*'']Gnidia mollis
''Gnidia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is distributed in tropical and southern Africa and Madagascar; more than half of all the species are endemism, endemic to South Africa.Rogers, Z. S. (2006)A new species of ...
''
*'' Gnidia multiflora''
*'' Gnidia myrtifolia''
*'' Gnidia nana''
*'' Gnidia neglecta''
*'' Gnidia newtonii''
*'' Gnidia nitida''
*'' Gnidia nodiflora''
*'' Gnidia obtusissima''
*'' Gnidia oliveriana''
*'' Gnidia oppositifolia''
*'' Gnidia orbiculata''
*'' Gnidia ornata''
*'' Gnidia pallida''
*'' Gnidia parviflora''
*'' Gnidia parvula''
*'' Gnidia penicillata''
*'' Gnidia phaeotricha''
*'' Gnidia pinifolia''
*'' Gnidia pleurocephala''
*'' Gnidia poggei''
*'' Gnidia polystachya''
*'' Gnidia propinqua''
*'' Gnidia quadrifaria''
*'' Gnidia quarrei''
*'' Gnidia racemosa''
*'' Gnidia rendlei''
*'' Gnidia renniana''
*'' Gnidia robynsiana''
*'' Gnidia rubrocincta''
*'' Gnidia scabra''
*'' Gnidia scabrida''
*'' Gnidia sericea''
*'' Gnidia setosa''
*'' Gnidia simplex''
*'' Gnidia singularis''
*'' Gnidia sonderiana''
*'' Gnidia sparsiflora''
*'' Gnidia spicata''
*'' Gnidia squarrosa''
*'' Gnidia stellatifolia''
*'' Gnidia stenophylla''
*'' Gnidia strigillosa''
*'' Gnidia styphelioides''
*'' Gnidia subulata''
*'' Gnidia tenella''
*'' Gnidia thesioides''
*''Gnidia tomentosa
''Gnidia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is distributed in tropical and southern Africa and Madagascar; more than half of all the species are endemism, endemic to South Africa.Rogers, Z. S. (2006)A new species of ...
''
*'' Gnidia usafuae''
*'' Gnidia variabilis''
*'' Gnidia variegata''
*'' Gnidia virescens''
*'' Gnidia welwitschii''
*'' Gnidia wickstroemiana''
*'' Gnidia woodii''
Formerly placed here
* '' Lasiosiphon socotranus'' (as ''Gnidia socotrana'' )
References
External links
Species listing: ''Gnidia''.
Red List of South African Plants. South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI).
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
Thymelaeoideae
Thymelaeaceae genera
Flora of the Afrotropical realm
Taxa described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
{{Thymelaeaceae-stub