''Kirkia'' is a genus of

plant Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...

in family

Kirkiaceae Kirkiaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Sapindales. It comprises one (or two) genera, '' Kirkia'' (and '' Pleiokirkia'' now included in ''Kirkia''), totalling six species. These two genera were previously placed in family Simaroub ...

. It was previously placed in family

Simaroubaceae The Simaroubaceae, also known as the quassia family, are a small, mostly tropical, family in the order Sapindales. In recent decades, it has been subject to much taxonomic debate, with several small families being split off. A molecular phyloge ...

, but was transferred into Kirkiaceae, together with '' Pleiokirkia'', because these genera produce neither

quassinoid Quassinoids are degraded triterpene lactones (similar to limonoids) of the Simaroubaceae plant family grouped into C-18, C-19, C-20, C-22 and C-25 types. The prototypical member of the group, quassin, was first described in the 19th century from ...

s nor

limonoid Limonoids are phytochemicals of the triterpenoid class which are abundant in sweet or sour-scented citrus fruit and other plants of the families Cucurbitaceae, Rutaceae, and Meliaceae. Certain limonoids are antifeedants such as azadirachtin from ...

s. The genus name of ''Kirkia'' is in honour of Sir John Kirk, (1832–1922), who was a physician,

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

, companion to explorer

David Livingstone David Livingstone (; 19 March 1813 – 1 May 1873) was a Scottish physician, Congregationalist, pioneer Christian missionary with the London Missionary Society, and an explorer in Africa. Livingstone was married to Mary Moffat Livings ...

, and British administrator in

Zanzibar Zanzibar is a Tanzanian archipelago off the coast of East Africa. It is located in the Indian Ocean, and consists of many small Island, islands and two large ones: Unguja (the main island, referred to informally as Zanzibar) and Pemba Island. ...

Species

It contains the following species (6), but this list may be incomplete): * ''

Kirkia acuminata ''Kirkia'' is a genus of plant in family Kirkiaceae. It was previously placed in family Simaroubaceae, but was transferred into Kirkiaceae, together with '' Pleiokirkia'', because these genera produce neither quassinoids nor limonoids. The gen ...

'' Oliv., 1868,
Catalogue of Life: 2017 Annual Checklist Genus Kirkia South Africa (Transvaal), Namibia, Botswana, SW-Angola, SE-D.R. Congo (Zaire), Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique * '' Kirkia burgeri'' B. Stannard Ethiopia; Somalia * '' Kirkia dewinteri'' Merxm. & Heine, 1960 Namibia * '' Kirkia leandrii'' (Capuron) Stannard, 2007 Madagascar; syn.: ''Pleiokirkia leandrii'' Capuron, 1961 * '' Kirkia tenuifolia'' Engl., 1902 SE-Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, Kenya * '' Kirkia wilmsii'' Engl., South Africa (Transvaal)

Journal

'Kirkia' is also the name of 'The Zimbabwe Journal of Botany', published by the National Herbarium and Botanic Garden, Zimbabwe. Since 1960 to the present day and written in English.

References

Sapindales genera Sapindales Taxa named by Daniel Oliver Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{sapindales-stub