''Wissadula'' 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 mallow family,

Malvaceae Malvaceae (), or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include Theobroma cacao, cacao, Cola (plant), cola, cotton, okra, Hibiscus sabdariffa, ...

. It contains 25 to 30 species of

herbs Herbs are a widely distributed and widespread group of plants, excluding vegetables, with savory or aromatic properties that are used for flavoring and garnish (food), garnishing food, for medicinal purposes, or for fragrances. Culinary use typi ...

and subshrubs that are mostly native to the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeog ...

, with several in

tropical Asia Tropical Asia refers to the entirety of the areas in Asia with a tropical climate. These areas are of geographic and economic importance due to their natural resources and biodiversity, which include many species of agricultural value. There are 16 ...

and

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. The name is derived from the

Sinhala language Sinhala ( ; Sinhala: , , ), sometimes called Sinhalese ( ), is an Indo-Aryan language primarily spoken by the Sinhalese people of Sri Lanka, who make up the largest ethnic group on the island, numbering about 16 million. It is also the first ...

Selected species

* ''

Wissadula amplissima ''Wissadula'' is a genus of flowering plants in the Malva, mallow family, Malvaceae. It contains 25 to 30 species of Herbaceous plant, herbs and subshrubs that are mostly native to the Neotropical realm, Neotropics, with several in tropical Asia ...

'' (L.) R.E.Fr. – Big yellow velvetleaf * '' Wissadula contracta'' (Link) R.E.Fr. – Contracted velvetleaf * '' Wissadula diffusa'' R.E.Fr. * '' Wissadula divergens'' (Benth.) Benth. & Hook. * '' Wissadula periplocifolia'' (L.) K.Presl ex Thwaites – White velvetleaf

Formerly placed here

* '' Briquetia spicata'' (Kunth) Fryxell (as ''W. spicata'' (Kunth) C.Presl)

References

External links

Encyclopedia of Life entry
Malvaceae genera Taxonomy articles created by Polbot {{Malveae-stub