''Platycarpha'' 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 South African plants within the family

Asteraceae Asteraceae () is a large family (biology), family of flowering plants that consists of over 32,000 known species in over 1,900 genera within the Order (biology), order Asterales. The number of species in Asteraceae is rivaled only by the Orchi ...

.Tropicos, ''Platycarpha'' Less.
/ref>Lessing, Christian Friedrich. 1831. Linnaea 6: 688.
in Latin Recent studies have suggested splitting ''Platycarpha'' into two genera, ''Platycarpha'' and '' Platycarphella.'' Further work remains to be done to resolve this.Per Ola Karis. 2007. "Arctotideae" pages 200-207. In: Klaus Kubitzki (series editor); Joachim W. Kadereit and Charles Jeffrey (volume editors). ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' volume VIII. Springer-Verlag: Berlin; Heidelberg, Germany. David J. Mabberley. 2008. ''Mabberley's Plant-Book'' third edition (2008). Cambridge University Press: UK. The

name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. The entity identified by a name is called its referent. A person ...

''Platycarpha'' is derived from two

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

words, ''platys'' "broad" and ''karphos'' "a chip of straw or wood, a scale, a dry stalk".Umberto Quattrocchi. 2000. ''CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names''. volume III, page 2098. CRC Press: Baton Rouge, New York, London, Washington DC. (vol. III). (see ''External links'' below). The name was first used by

Christian Friedrich Lessing Christian Friedrich Lessing (10 August 1809 – 13 March 1862) was a German botanist who was a native of Groß Wartenberg, Niederschlesien. He was a brother to painter Carl Friedrich Lessing (1808–1880), and a grandnephew of poet Gotthold Ephr ...

in 1831.Christian Friedrich Lessing. 1831. "De Synanthereis. Dissertatis quarta, auctore Chr. Fr. Lessing" ''Linnaea'' 6:688. (see ''External links'' below). The

type species In International_Code_of_Zoological_Nomenclature, zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the spe ...

is ''Platycarpha glomerata''.''Platycarpha'' In: Index Nominum Genericorum. In:

Regnum Vegetabile The International Association for Plant Taxonomy (IAPT) is an organization established to promote an understanding of plant biodiversity, facilitate international communication of research between botanists, and oversee matters of uniformity and ...

(see ''External links'' below). This species had been named ''Cynara glomerata'' by

Carl Peter Thunberg Carl Peter Thunberg, also known as Karl Peter von Thunberg, Carl Pehr Thunberg, or Carl Per Thunberg (11 November 1743 – 8 August 1828), was a Sweden, Swedish Natural history, naturalist and an Apostles of Linnaeus, "apostle" of Carl Linnaeus ...

in 1800,Carl Peter Thunberg. 1800. ''Prodromus Plantarum Capensium'' volume 2: 141. (see ''External links'' below). and was moved to ''Platycarpha'' by A.P. de Candolle in 1836 in '' Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis''.Augustin Pyramus de Candolle. 1836. '' Prodromus Systematis Naturalis Regni Vegetabilis'' 5:71. (see ''External links'' below). The

systematic Systematic may refer to: Science * Short for systematic error * Systematic fault * Systematic bias, errors that are introduced by an inaccuracy inherent to the system Economy * Systematic trading, a way of defining trade goals, risk control ...

position of ''Platycarpha'' has long been regarded with uncertainty. Most authors have placed it in the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide use of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. The definition is contested, in part due to conflict ...

Arctotideae until

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

studies showed it to be closer to

Vernonieae Vernonieae is a tribe of about 1300 species of plants in the aster family. They are mostly found in the tropics and warmer temperate areas, both in the Americas and the Old World. They are mostly herbaceous plants or shrubs, although there is a ...

.Vicki A. Funk, Raymund Chan, Stirling C. Keeley. 2004. "Insights into the evolution of the tribe Arctoteae (Compositae: subfamily Cichorioideae s.s.) using ''trnL-F, ndhF'', and ITS". ''Taxon'' 53(3):637-655. In 2009, the new tribe Platycarpheae was established for ''Platycarpha'' and ''Platycarphella''.Vicki A. Funk, Alfonso Susanna, Tod F. Stuessy, and Randall J. Bayer. 2009. ''Systematics, Evolution and Biogeography of the Compositae''. IAPT (International Association for Plant Taxonomy). ; Species * '' Platycarpha carlinoides'' Oliv. & Hiern-

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 ...

* '' Platycarpha glomerata'' (Thunb.) Less. -

* '' Platycarpha parvifolia'' S.Moore -

References

External links

''Platycarpha''
A

At
PlantZAfrica.com

CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names: M-Q
At:

Google Books Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical charac ...

''Platycarpha''
In
Linnaea volume 6

''Platycarpha''
A
Index Nominum Genericorum
At

At

At
Research and Collections
At
Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

Cynara
In
Prodromus Plantarum Capensium volume 2

''Platycarpha''
In
Prodr. (DC.) volume 5
{{Taxonbar, from=Q7202557 Asteraceae genera Endemic flora of South Africa Vernonioideae