''Plowmanianthus'' Faden & C.R.Hardy is a genus of plants with 5 species and 2 subspecies in the family

Commelinaceae Commelinaceae is a family of flowering plants. In less formal contexts, the group is referred to as the dayflower family or spiderwort family. It is one of five families in the order Commelinales and by far the largest of these with about 731 kn ...

(the spiderwort and dayflower family). The genus is distributed from

Panama Panama, officially the Republic of Panama, is a country in Latin America at the southern end of Central America, bordering South America. It is bordered by Costa Rica to the west, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north, and ...

to Amazonian

Peru Peru, officially the Republic of Peru, is a country in western South America. It is bordered in the north by Ecuador and Colombia, in the east by Brazil, in the southeast by Bolivia, in the south by Chile, and in the south and west by the Pac ...

and

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

Systematics & Distributions

''Plowmanianthus'' is a member of the subtribe

Dichorisandrinae Dichorisandrinae is a subtribe within the tribe Tradescantieae of the flowering plant family Commelinaceae. It consists of 5 genera and around 51 species. The subtribe represents a diverse assemblage native to tropical South America and a conti ...

of the tribe

Tradescantieae The Tradescantieae are a tribe of plants in the family Commelinaceae erected by Carl Meissner in 1842. Many genera originate from the Americas, but those in subtribes Coleotrypinae, Cyanotinae, Palisotinae and Streptoliriinae are Asian or Af ...

of the flowering plant family

. It has 5 species and 2 subspecies, all of which were described with the circumscription of the genus itself by Hardy and Faden (2004). Proceeding from the north to south and southeast of the genus's distribution, the taxa are as follows. *''Plowmanianthus dressleri'' is endemic to Panama, west of the Canal Zone. *''Plowmanianthus panamensis'' is endemic to Panama, east of the Canal Zone. *''Plowmanianthus grandifolius'' is native to Amazonian Ecuador, northern Amazonian Peru, and western Brazil. It consists of two subspecies. **''P. grandifolius'' ssp. ''grandifolius'' is native to northern Amazonian Peru and western Brazil; **''P. grandifolius'' ssp. ''robustus'' C.R.Hardy & Faden is native to Amazonian Ecuador and northern Amazonian Peru. *''Plowmanianthus peruvianaus'' is native to northern Amazonian Peru. *''Plowmanianthus perforans'' is native to southern Amazonian Peru.

Taxonomy

The genus is named in honor of

Timothy Plowman Timothy Charles Plowman (November 17, 1944 – January 7, 1989) was an American ethnobotanist best known for his intensive work over the course of 15 years on the genus ''Erythroxylum'' in general, and the cultivated coca species in particula ...

(1944–1989), an American

ethnobotanist Ethnobotany is an interdisciplinary field at the interface of natural and social sciences that studies the relationships between humans and plants. It focuses on traditional knowledge of how plants are used, managed, and perceived in human societi ...

best known for his intensive work over the course of 15 years on the genus ''

Erythroxylum ''Erythroxylum'' is a genus of tropical flowering plants in the family Erythroxylaceae. Many of the approximately 200 species contain the tropane alkaloid cocaine,Bieri S, Brachet A, Veuthey J, Christen P. Cocaine distribution in wild Erythroxyl ...

'', and the cultivated

coca Coca is any of the four cultivated plants in the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America. Coca is known worldwide for its psychoactive alkaloid, cocaine. Coca leaves contain cocaine which acts as a mild stimulant when chewed or ...

species in particular. It was first described and published in Syst. Bot. Vol.29 on page 316 in 2004.

Morphology

Rosette Rosette is the French diminutive of ''rose''. It may refer to: Flower shaped designs * Rosette (award), a mark awarded by an organisation * Rosette (design), a small flower design *hence, various flower-shaped or rotational symmetric forms: ** R ...

, typically unbranched herbs with somewhat

succulent In botany, succulent plants, also known as succulents, are plants with parts that are thickened, fleshy, and engorged, usually to retain water in arid climates or soil conditions. The word ''succulent'' comes from the Latin word ''sucus'', meani ...

, strap-shaped leaves. In the wild, plants grow on the floor of primary

rainforests Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...

, shallowly rooted in the

humus In classical soil science, humus is the dark organic matter in soil that is formed by the decomposition of plant and animal matter. It is a kind of soil organic matter. It is rich in nutrients and retains moisture in the soil. Humus is the Lati ...

-rich and leaf-litter layers. ''Plowmanianthus'' resembles its close relative, the

epiphytic An epiphyte is a plant or plant-like organism that grows on the surface of another plant and derives its moisture and nutrients from the air, rain, water (in marine environments) or from debris accumulating around it. The plants on which epiphyt ...

genus ''

Cochliostema ''Cochliostema'' is a genus of plants with two species in the family Commelinaceae (the spiderwort and dayflower family). The genus occurs from southern Nicaragua to southern Ecuador. Systematics ''Cochliostema'' is a member of the subtribe Dic ...

'', but is smaller (its leaves reach only to ca. 30 cm in length) and is not epiphytic. Its flowers are also much smaller, lack the spirally coiled anthers of ''Cochliostema'', and are usually

cleistogamous Cleistogamy is a type of automatic self-pollination of certain plants that can propagate by using non-opening, self-pollinating flowers. Especially well known in peanuts, peas, and pansies, this behavior is most widespread in the grass family. H ...

(i.e., they usually never open).

References

Other sources

* Hardy CR, RB Faden (2004) ''Plowmanianthus'', a new genus of Commelinaceae with five new species from tropical America. ''Systematic Botany'' 29 (2): 316–333. * Hardy CR, JI Davis, DW Stevenson (2004) Floral organogenesis in ''Plowmanianthus'' (Commelinaceae). ''International Journal of Plant Sciences'' 165 (4): 511–519. {{Taxonbar, from=Q7205191 Commelinaceae Commelinaceae genera Plants described in 2004 Flora of North Brazil Flora of Colombia Flora of Ecuador Flora of Panama Flora of Peru