''Poortmannia'' 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 (; 'seed'), meaning that the seeds are enclosed with ...

s belonging to the family

Solanaceae Solanaceae (), commonly known as the nightshades, is a family of flowering plants in the order Solanales. It contains approximately 2,700 species, several of which are used as agricultural crops, medicinal plants, and ornamental plants. Many me ...

. It is also in Solanoideae subfamily, tribe Solandreae Miers and also subtribe Juanulloinae. The genus has only one known species, ''Poortmannia speciosa'' . Its native range is tropical South America and it is found in the countries of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. It is found in moist evergreen and montane forests at altitudes of above sea level.

Description

They are

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 ...

shrubs, root-climbing lianas or small trees. It has cylindrical stems with verrucose bark. The leaves are coriaceous, long and elliptic, oblong or oblanceolate shaped, entire, abaxially prominently veined. The

petiole Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, and ...

(leaf stalk) is short and stout. The inflorescence are axillary with few flowered

cymes In botany, an inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a plant's 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 main axis ( ped ...

. The

pedicels In botany, a pedicel is a stem that attaches a single flower to 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 branch ...

(flower stalk) are shorter than the peduncles. The flowers are pendant-like, large, 5-merous, with valvate aestivation. The calyx is green, purplish tinged, campanulate (bell shaped), 5-keeled, lobes coriaceous, deltoid or lanceolate, free halfway to near the base. The corolla is green or greenish, campanulate, long, fleshy, lobes obtuse-deltoid, strongly reflexed. The stamens are slightly exserted and the filaments are ciliate, enlarged at base, inserted near the base of corolla, connivent around the straight style. The anthers are oblong, dorsifixed near the base. The

nectary Nectar is a viscous, sugar-rich liquid produced by plants in glands called nectaries, either within the flowers with which it attracts pollinating animals, or by extrafloral nectaries, which provide a nutrient source to animal mutualists, ...

is fleshy and the ovary is 5-carpellate, 10-locular. The stigma is clavate and 5-lobed. The fruit (or seed capsule) is a large berry surrounded by the accrescent calyx. Inside the capsule, it has numerous elongated

reniform seed In botany, a seed is a plant structure containing an embryo and stored nutrients in a protective coat called a ''testa''. More generally, the term "seed" means anything that can be sown, which may include seed and husk or tuber. Seeds are the ...

Taxonomy

The genus name of ''Poortmannia'' is in honour of Hugo Anne Cornelis Poortman (1858–1953), Dutch garden architect; collected plants in Colombia and Ecuador; created various manor and castle gardens. 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 ''speciosa'' means showy. Both the genus and the species were first described and published in Bull. Annuel Soc. Philom. Paris, séries 8, Vol.4 on page 128 in 1892. The genus is not recognized by the

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is an executive department of the United States federal government that aims to meet the needs of commercial farming and livestock food production, promotes agricultural trade and producti ...

and the

Agricultural Research Service The Agricultural Research Service (ARS) is the principal in-house research agency of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). ARS is one of four agencies in USDA's Research, Education and Economics mission area. ARS is charged with ext ...

, as they class it as a synonym of '' Trianaea'' . As well as a few other sources, although a recent

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics () is the study of the evolutionary history of life using observable characteristics of organisms (or genes), which is known as phylogenetic inference. It infers the relationship among organisms based on empirical dat ...

study by Orejuela et al., (2017) recognizes it as a distinct genus based on DNA sequences.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q87254245 Solanaceae Monotypic Solanaceae genera Plants described in 1892 Flora of Colombia Flora of Ecuador Flora of Peru