''Takhtajania'' 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 ...

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 of the family

Winteraceae Winteraceae is a primitive family of tropical trees and shrubs including 93 species in five genera. It is of particular interest because it is such a primitive angiosperm family, distantly related to Magnoliaceae, though it has a much more south ...

, which contains a single

species A species () is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate sexes or mating types can produce fertile offspring, typically by sexual reproduction. It is the basic unit of Taxonomy (biology), ...

, ''Takhtajania perrieri''. 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 ...

Madagascar Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar, is an island country that includes the island of Madagascar and numerous smaller peripheral islands. Lying off the southeastern coast of Africa, it is the world's List of islands by area, f ...

. ''Takhtajania'' is found in a small area of the

Madagascar subhumid forests The Madagascar subhumid forests are a tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, tropical moist broadleaf forest ecoregion that covers most of the Central Highlands (Madagascar), Central Highlands of the island of Madagascar. They are inclu ...

. It is a small evergreen tree or shrub, with shiny green lance-shaped leaves and reddish-pink flowers. The first known specimen of the plant was collected in 1909 on the

Manongarivo Manongarivo Reserve is a nature reserve, wildlife reserve in the North-West of Madagascar in the region of Diana Region, Diana. Manongarivo is home to both the Sambirano mouse lemur and the Sambirano woolly lemur. Geography The reserve has a su ...

Massif of central Madagascar at an elevation of 1700 meters. In 1963, the French botanist

René Paul Raymond Capuron René Paul Raymond Capuron (20 October 1921 – 24 August 1971) was a French botanist. He was responsible for an extensive amount of work on the tree flora of Madagascar. Several plants with the Botanical name#Binary name, species epithet of ''capu ...

examined the unidentified plant sample, which he identified as a new species, which he named ''Bubbia perrieri'', after the French botanist Henri Perrier de la Bâthie, classifying it in the Australasian

genus '' Bubbia''. In 1978, the botanists Baranova and J. F. Leroy reclassified the plant into its own genus, ''Takhtajania'', after the Russian botanist

Armen Takhtajan Armen Leonovich Takhtajan or Takhtajian (; surname also transliterated Takhtadjan, Takhtadzhi︠a︡n or Takhtadzhian, pronounced takh-tuh-JAHN; 10 June 1910 – 13 November 2009), was a Soviet- Armenian botanist, one of the most important fi ...

. It was published in Adansonia, n.s., Vol.17 on page 388. In 1994 Malagasy plant collector Fanja Rasoavimbahoaka collected a specimen in Anjahanaribe-Sud Special Reserve 150 km from the location at which the 1909 specimen was collected, which George E. Schatz identified in May 1997 as ''Takhtajania''. A subsequent expedition discovered a large grove of the species at the spot where the second sample was collected. ''Takhtajania'' lacks water-conducting cells, called vessels, which allow plants to withstand drought, and must have remained in moist conditions for millions of years.

References

External links

Images of Winteraceae in Madagascar (Missouri Botanic Garden)
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q13080900, from2=Q1063378 Winteraceae Monotypic magnoliid genera Canellales genera Endemic flora of Madagascar Endangered plants Plants described in 1978 Flora of the Madagascar subhumid forests