''Maxwellia lepidota'' is a species of shrubs or trees in the family

Malvaceae Malvaceae (), or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include Theobroma cacao, cacao, Cola (plant), cola, cotton, okra, Hibiscus sabdariffa, ...

. It is

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 ...

New Caledonia New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...

and the only species of the

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus ''Maxwellia''. Its closest relatives are all Australian genera in tribe

Lasiopetaleae Lasiopetaleae is a tribe of the subfamily Byttnerioideae of the flowering plant family Malvaceae. File:Big commersonia bartramia.jpg, ''Commersonia bartramia'' File:Guichenotia ledifolia.jpg, ''Guichenotia ledifolia ''Guichenotia le ...

: ''

Guichenotia ''Guichenotia'' is a genus of 17 species of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae that is endemic to the south west of Western Australia. Plants in the genus ''Guichenotia'' are shrubs with simple, linear to oblong leaves with leaf-like stipu ...

'', ''

Hannafordia ''Hannafordia '' is a genus 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 ( ...

'', ''

Lysiosepalum ''Lysiosepalum'' is a genus of 5 species of flowering plants in the genus of plants in the family Malvaceae, all endemic to the south-west of Western Australia. Description All species of ''Lysiosepalum'' are shrubs up to high. The lea ...

'', ''

Lasiopetalum ''Lasiopetalum'', commonly known as velvet bushes, is a genus of about forty-five species of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae, all endemic to Australia. Description Most species of ''Lasiopetalum'' are spreading or prostrate, many ...

'' and ''

Thomasia ''Thomasia'' is a genus of thirty-one species of flowering plants in the family Malvaceae. Plants in this genus are small shrubs that are endemic to the south-west of Western Australia, apart from '' T. petalocalyx'' that is native to Victori ...

''. The genus name of ''Maxwellia'' is in honour of Maxwell T. Masters (1833–1907), an English botanist and

taxonomist In biology, taxonomy () is the science, scientific study of naming, defining (Circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribing) and classifying groups of biological organisms based on shared characteristics. Organisms are grouped into taxon, taxa (si ...

. The Latin

specific epithet In Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, both of which use Latin gramm ...

of ''lepidota'' refers to the Greek word ''lepidotus'' meaning scaly. Both genus and species were first described and published in Adansonia Vol.10 on page 100 in 1871.

References

Byttnerioideae Plants described in 1845 Endemic flora of New Caledonia Taxa named by Henri Ernest Baillon {{Byttnerioideae-stub