''Wurdastom'' 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

Melastomataceae Melastomataceae () is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants found mostly in the tropics (two-thirds of the genera are from the New World tropics) comprising c. 175 genera and c. 5115 known species. Melastomes are annual or perennial herbs ...

. It is native to Colombia, Ecuador and Peru in western South America.

Known species

There are 8 accepted species by

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online taxonomic database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. History Following the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Royal Botanic Gardens in Kew launched Plants of the World Online i ...

(as of Jan. 2022):

Taxonomy

The genus name of ''Wurdastom'' is in honour of John Julius Wurdack (1921–1998), an American botanist at the

New York Botanical Garden The New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) is a botanical garden at Bronx Park in the Bronx, New York City. Established in 1891, it is located on a site that contains a landscape with over one million living plants; the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, ...

and also the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

. It was first described and published in Ann. Naturhist. Mus. Wien, B 98 (Suppl.) on page 461 in 1996.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q17440986 Melastomataceae Melastomataceae genera Plants described in 1996 Flora of Colombia Flora of Ecuador Flora of Peru