''Roessleria'' 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 in the sunflower 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 ...

. It includes five species native to southern Africa, ranging from

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

and

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

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 ...

. The species in the genus were originally placed in genus ''

Hirpicium ''Gorteria'' is a genus of small annual herbaceous plants or shrubs that is assigned to the daisy family (Compositae or Asteraceae). It includes 12 species native to eastern and southern Africa, ranging from Ethiopia to South Africa. Like in al ...

''. That genus was found to be

paraphyletic Paraphyly is a taxonomic term describing a grouping that consists of the grouping's last common ancestor and some but not all of its descendant lineages. The grouping is said to be paraphyletic ''with respect to'' the excluded subgroups. In co ...

, with the five southern African species forming a distinct

clade In biology, a clade (), also known as a Monophyly, monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that is composed of a common ancestor and all of its descendants. Clades are the fundamental unit of cladistics, a modern approach t ...

that was given the name ''Roessleria''. The genus is named for botanist

Helmut Roessler Helmut is a German name. Variants include Hellmut, Helmuth, and Hellmuth. From old German, the first element deriving from either ''heil'' ("healthy") or ''hiltja'' ("battle"), and the second from ''muot'' ("spirit, mind, mood"). Helmut may refer ...

(1926–2019).F. Stångberg, P.O. Karis, A. Anderberg, 2018. Intergeneric relationships in the Gorteria clade of Arctotideae-Gorteriinae (Asteraceae), with description of a new genus, ''Roessleria''. ''South African Journal of Botany'', Volume 118, 2018. Pages 216-231. ISSN 0254-6299, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sajb.2018.07.018.

Species

Five species are accepted. *'' Roessleria armerioides'' *'' Roessleria bechuanensis'' *'' Roessleria gazanioides'' *'' Roessleria gorterioides'' *'' Roessleria linearifolia''

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q123098123 Arctotideae Asteraceae genera