''Tabernaemontana alternifolia'' is a species of
plant
Plants are the eukaryotes that form the Kingdom (biology), kingdom Plantae; they are predominantly Photosynthesis, photosynthetic. This means that they obtain their energy from sunlight, using chloroplasts derived from endosymbiosis with c ...
in the family
Apocynaceae
Apocynaceae (, from '' Apocynum'', Greek for "dog-away") is a family of flowering plants that includes trees, shrubs, herbs, stem succulents, and vines, commonly known as the dogbane family, because some taxa were used as dog poison. Notable mem ...
. 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 ...
to
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
.
Taxonomy
The name ''Tabernaemontana heyneana'' Wall. has often been used for this species, and a proposal was made to
conserve that name so that it would be used instead of ''T. alternifolia''.
Arguments made for conservation were that the
type
Type may refer to:
Science and technology Computing
* Typing, producing text via a keyboard, typewriter, etc.
* Data type, collection of values used for computations.
* File type
* TYPE (DOS command), a command to display contents of a file.
* ...
of the species was not a specimen but an illustration, and that the plant has
opposite leaves
In botany, phyllotaxis () or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaf, leaves on a plant stem. Phyllotactic spirals form a distinctive class of patterns in nature.
Leaf arrangement
The basic leaf#Arrangement on the stem, arrangements of leaves ...
, not alternate leaves as ''alternifolia'' implies.
[ However, the proposal was rejected, and the correct name of this species is the original name, ''T. alternifolia''.]
References
*
External links
BIOTIK database entry
alternifolia
Endemic flora of India (region)
Near threatened flora of Asia
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
Taxobox binomials not recognized by IUCN
{{Apocynaceae-stub