''Phycella'' is a genus of

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of ...

perennial In horticulture, the term perennial ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the year") is used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. It has thus been defined as a plant that lives more than 2 years. The term is also ...

bulbous In botany, a bulb is a short underground stem with fleshy leaves or leaf basesBell, A.D. 1997. ''Plant form: an illustrated guide to flowering plant morphology''. Oxford University Press, Oxford, U.K. that function as food storage organs duri ...

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

Amaryllidaceae The Amaryllidaceae are a family of herbaceous, mainly perennial and bulbous (rarely rhizomatous) flowering plants in the monocot order Asparagales. The family takes its name from the genus '' Amaryllis'' and is commonly known as the amaryl ...

, subfamily

Amaryllidoideae Amaryllidoideae (Amaryllidaceae ''s.s.'', amaryllids) is a subfamily of monocot flowering plants in the Family (biology), family Amaryllidaceae, Order (biology), order Asparagales. The most recent Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, APG classification, A ...

. The genus consists of five species distributed from central

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

to northwestern

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

. The type species, ''P. cyrtanthoides'', is commonly known as añañuca in Chile, and the star Gliese 367 is named after it.

Taxonomy

The genus was described by

John Lindley John Lindley Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (5 February 1799 – 1 November 1865) was an English botanist, gardener and orchidology, orchidologist. Early years Born in Old Catton, Catton, near Norwich, England, John Lindley was one of four c ...

in 1825. After further examining specimens of ''Amaryllis ignea'' (see illustration) that he had described the previous year as ''

Amaryllis ''Amaryllis'' () is the only genus in the subtribe Amaryllidinae (tribe Amaryllideae). It is a small genus of flowering bulbs, with two species. The better known of the two, '' Amaryllis belladonna'', is a native of the Western Cape region of ...

'', with some reservation, Lindley concluded they were a separate genus, naming two species, ''P. ignea'', and ''P. cyrtanthoides'' (previously ''A. cyrtanthoides''). Subsequently, it was considered these were the same plant, and ''P. ignea'' was reassigned to a synonym for ''P. cyrtanthoides''.

Phylogeny

''Phycella'' is located in the American (Hippeastroid) clade of the Amaryllidoideaetribe, where it is placed in tribe

Hippeastreae Hippeastreae is a tribe of plants belonging to the subfamily Amaryllidoideae of the Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae). Species in this tribe are distributed in South America. Flowers are large and showy, zygomorphic, with the stamens in varying ...

, subtribe

Traubiinae '' Phycella cyrtanthoides'' Traubiinae is a subtribe of plants classified under the tribe Hippeastreae. It belongs to the subfamily Amaryllidoideae of the Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae). Description Bulbous perennial herbaceous plants, ter ...

. In molecular phylogenetic analysis, ''Phycella'' forms a

sister group In phylogenetics, a sister group or sister taxon, also called an adelphotaxon, comprises the closest relative(s) of another given unit in an evolutionary tree. Definition The expression is most easily illustrated by a cladogram: Taxon A and ...

to the remainder of the Hippeastreae. In 1996 the Müller-Doblies' had situated it in subtribe Hippeastrinae based on morphological criteria, by submerging it in ''

Hippeastrum ''Hippeastrum'' () is a genus of 116 species, and over 600 Hybrid (biology), hybrids and cultivars, of perennial plant, perennial, herbaceous plant, herbaceous and bulbous plants, native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas, ...

''. A detailed study of in-depth relations within Hippeastreae revealed a more complicated situation with regard to the Chilean-Argentinian

taxa In biology, a taxon (back-formation from ''taxonomy''; : taxa) is a group of one or more populations of an organism or organisms seen by taxonomists to form a unit. Although neither is required, a taxon is usually known by a particular name and ...

which had not been well represented in earlier studies. There was strong support for two major clades, representing two subtribes, with ''Phycella'' and three other genera (but not ''Hippeastrum'') forming the Traubiinae. This study also showed that one species of '' Famatina'' (''F. maulensis'') segregated with ''Phycella'', and was therefore submerged in it as '' Phycella herbertiana''. By contrast the remaining three ''Famatina'' species segregated with ''

Rhodophiala ''Rhodophiala'' was a genus of herbaceous, perennial and bulb, bulbous plants in the Amaryllis family (Amaryllidaceae, subfamily Amaryllidoideae). It consisted of about 30 South American species distributed in southern Brazil, Argentina, and, spe ...

'' and were therefore grouped in Hippeastrinae together with ''Hippeastrum''. Consequently, ''Famatina'' has been extinguished as separate genus. The genus ''Placea'' was also submerged in ''Phycella'', resulting in about 13 species in total.

Subdivision

13–14 species are described: * '' Phycella amoena'' Nic.García syn. ''Placea amoena'' * '' Phycella arzae'' (Phil.) Nic.García syn. ''Placea arzae'' * '' Phycella australis''

Ravenna Ravenna ( ; , also ; ) is the capital city of the Province of Ravenna, in the Emilia-Romagna region of Northern Italy. It was the capital city of the Western Roman Empire during the 5th century until its Fall of Rome, collapse in 476, after which ...

* '' Phycella brevituba'' Herb. * '' Phycella chilensis'' (L’Hér.) Grau ex Nic.García syn. ''Amaryllis chilensis'' L’Hér. * '' Phycella cyrtanthoides'' (

Sims Sims, sims or SIMS may refer to: Games * ''The Sims'', a life simulation video game series ** ''The Sims'' (video game), the first installment, released in 2000 ** ''The Sims 2'', the second installment, released in 2004 ** ''The Sims 3'', the ...

) Lindl. * '' Phycella davidii'' (Ravenna) Nic.García syn. ''Placea davidii'' * '' Phycella fulgens'' (Hook.f.) Nic.García, syn. ''Habranthus fulgens'' Hook.f. * '' Phycella germainii'' (Phil.) Nic.García syn. ''Placea germainii'' Phil. * '' Phycella herbertiana'' Lindl. syn. ''Famatina maulensis'' Ravenna * '' Phycella lutea'' (Phil.) Nic.García ''Placea lutea'' Phil. * '' Phycella maulensis'' (Ravenna) Nic.García & J.M.Watson syn. ''Famatina maulensis'' Ravenna * '' Phycella ornata'' (Miers) Nic.García syn. ''Placea ornata'' Miers * '' Phycella scarlatina'' Ravenna Pl. Life 37: 69 (1981)

References

Bibliography

* The International Plant Names Inde
''Phycella''
* * * * * * * * * * {{Taxonbar, from=Q9059179 Amaryllidoideae Amaryllidaceae genera