Anthodon (plant genus)
Encyclopedia
Anthodon is a genus
of flowering plant
s in the family
Celastraceae
. It comprises two species
of large woody
vine
s native
to Central America
and northern and Amazonian
South America
. They are scattered throughout most of the neotropics, but are not common
in any part of their range
. They grow in wet forest
s from 100 m to 900 m in elevation
. There is no known use
of these vines by humans.
. Its leaves are opposite or subopposite
, simple, and with margins that are crenulate or serrulate
. They are elliptic
, 6 to 12 cm long, and 2.5 to 5 cm wide.
The inflorescence
s are borne in the axils of the leaves, on peduncles
5 to 30 mm long. They are roughly flat-topped in shape, dichotomously branched, and bearing numerous flowers.
The flower
s are a greenish or pale yellow, fragrant, and 5 to 10 mm in diameter. They are bisexual and pentamerous
, with the sepal
s and petal
s being completely free. The sepals and petals are serrate; the petals conspicuously so, often with each tooth tapering to a short hair
.
The stamen
s are three in number, equal, and ascending to erect. The filaments
are short and broadened toward the base. The anthers are basifixed and broadly reniform, opening
by a transverse, apical cleft. A nectary disk encircles the stamens.
The ovary
is 3-sided and 3-locular, with 8 to 14 ovule
s per locule
. The placentation is axile. The style is short and stout, surmounted by three small, triangular stigmas
, these located opposite the stamens.
The fruit
is distinctive, easily attracting attention by its odd appearance. There is usually only one per inflorescence. It has been described as three coherent capsules
and as a 3-locular caplule. It is dorso-ventrally flattened into a disk which hangs lantern-like from the peduncle attached at its center. It is green and variable in size, up to 18 cm in diameter.
In most of its close relatives, the three locules of the ovary become three separate fruits, but in Anthodon, they are united for their entire length and over half their width into a trilobed
capsule
with a notch at the end of each lobe. At maturity
, the capsule breaks into three pieces, with each locule splitting down the middle and the adjacent halves of the locules remaining fused, sometimes weakly so.
Unlike many in Celastraceae, the seed
s have no aril
. Eight to 14 are crowded into each locule. The basal part of the seed is a membranous wing with a single, central vein that forms as a remnant of the funiculus
. The embryoniferous
part of the seed is near the edge of the capsule.
and Pavon
in 1798 in their masterpiece
, Flora Peruviana et Chilensis. It means "flower tooth" or "flower teeth", and refers to the prominent teeth that line the margins of the sepals and petals. At the end of their description, they wrote, "Genus Anthodon à foliolis calycinis et petalis dentato-ciliatis nominavimus". They described one species, Anthodon decussatum, named for the decussate arrangement
of the leaves. It is the type species
for the genus.
In 1940, Albert C. Smith
named the second species, Anthodon panamense. Some have doubted that Anthodon contains two species, suggesting that it might be a single species with a disjunct distribution
and a Panamanian
variety.
After Ruiz and Pavon established the genus Anthodon, several species were assigned to it by other authors, resulting in a genus that was hard to distinguish from a few others. These species have been reassigned to other genera.
Hippocrateoideae, which contains about 100 species. Hippocrateoideae is one of three morphologically
distinct and monophyletic subfamilies
embedded in the large, paraphyletic subfamily Celastroideae. The classification
proposed by Simmons is an artificial
construct, meant to be used until a phylogenetic classification
of Celastraceae can be found.
The subfamily Hippocrateoideae (sensu
Simmons) encompasses about a third of the species of the now defunct family Hippocrateaceae that was erected by Jussieu
in 1811. The division of Hippocrateoideae into genera has been a source of considerable disagreement. Simmons recognizes 19 genera in this group. Most authors have recognized fewer genera and some have put all of the 100 or so species into one genus, a very broadly circumscribed
Hippocratea.
placed the only species known at that time into Prionostemma
. Theodor Loesener
placed it in Hippocratea subgenus
Pristimera.
Anthodon has not yet been sampled
for DNA
, but four of its close relatives, Hippocratea, Pristimera, Plagiopteron, and Loesenerella were sampled for a molecular phylogeny
of Celastraceae that was published in 2008. The ultimate botanical
fate of Anthodon can not presently be known. It might be subsumed into some other genus or it might be expanded by having additional species transferred to it. Only further studies
of Celastraceae will provide an answer.
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...
of flowering plant
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
s in the family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Celastraceae
Celastraceae
The Celastraceae , is a family of about 90-100 genera and 1,300 species of vines, shrubs and small trees, belonging to the order Celastrales...
. It comprises two species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...
of large woody
Woody plant
A woody plant is a plant that uses wood as its structural tissue. These are typically perennial plants whose stems and larger roots are reinforced with wood produced adjacent to the vascular tissues. The main stem, larger branches, and roots of these plants are usually covered by a layer of...
vine
Vine
A vine in the narrowest sense is the grapevine , but more generally it can refer to any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent, that is to say climbing, stems or runners...
s native
Indigenous (ecology)
In biogeography, a species is defined as native to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention. Every natural organism has its own natural range of distribution in which it is regarded as native...
to Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...
and northern and Amazonian
Amazon Basin
The Amazon Basin is the part of South America drained by the Amazon River and its tributaries that drains an area of about , or roughly 40 percent of South America. The basin is located in the countries of Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana, Peru, and Venezuela...
South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
. They are scattered throughout most of the neotropics, but are not common
Species distribution
Species distribution is the manner in which a biological taxon is spatially arranged. Species distribution is not to be confused with dispersal, which is the movement of individuals away from their area of origin or from centers of high population density. A similar concept is the species range. A...
in any part of their range
Range (biology)
In biology, the range or distribution of a species is the geographical area within which that species can be found. Within that range, dispersion is variation in local density.The term is often qualified:...
. They grow in wet forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
s from 100 m to 900 m in elevation
Elevation
The elevation of a geographic location is its height above a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface ....
. There is no known use
Economic botany
Economic botany can be very broadly defined as a study of relationships between plants and people. Economic botany contributes significantly to anthropology, biology, conservation, botany, and other fields of science...
of these vines by humans.
Description
Anthodon is a large lianaLiana
A liana is any of various long-stemmed, woody vines that are rooted in the soil at ground level and use trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy to get access to well-lit areas of the forest. Lianas are especially characteristic of tropical moist deciduous...
. Its leaves are opposite or subopposite
Phyllotaxis
In botany, phyllotaxis or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem .- Pattern structure :...
, simple, and with margins that are crenulate or serrulate
Leaf shape
In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...
. They are elliptic
Leaf shape
In botany, leaf shape is characterised with the following terms :* Acicular : Slender and pointed, needle-like* Acuminate : Tapering to a long point...
, 6 to 12 cm long, and 2.5 to 5 cm wide.
The inflorescence
Inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Strictly, it is the part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed and which is accordingly modified...
s are borne in the axils of the leaves, on peduncles
Peduncle (botany)
In botany, a peduncle is a stem supporting an inflorescence, or after fecundation, an infructescence.The peduncle is a stem, usually green and without leaves, though sometimes colored or supporting small leaves...
5 to 30 mm long. They are roughly flat-topped in shape, dichotomously branched, and bearing numerous flowers.
The flower
Flower
A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproductive structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to effect reproduction, usually by providing a mechanism for the union of sperm with eggs...
s are a greenish or pale yellow, fragrant, and 5 to 10 mm in diameter. They are bisexual and pentamerous
Merosity
Merosity is the number of component parts in each whorl of a plant structure. It is most commonly used in the context of flowers, in which case it refers to the number of sepals in the calyx, the number of petals in the corolla, and the number of stamens in each whorl of the androecium...
, with the sepal
Sepal
A sepal is a part of the flower of angiosperms . Collectively the sepals form the calyx, which is the outermost whorl of parts that form a flower. Usually green, sepals have the typical function of protecting the petals when the flower is in bud...
s and petal
Petal
Petals are modified leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They often are brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. Together, all of the petals of a flower are called a corolla. Petals are usually accompanied by another set of special leaves called sepals lying...
s being completely free. The sepals and petals are serrate; the petals conspicuously so, often with each tooth tapering to a short hair
Trichome
Trichomes are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants and certain protists. These are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae.- Algal trichomes :...
.
The stamen
Stamen
The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...
s are three in number, equal, and ascending to erect. The filaments
Stamen
The stamen is the pollen producing reproductive organ of a flower...
are short and broadened toward the base. The anthers are basifixed and broadly reniform, opening
Dehiscence (botany)
Dehiscence is the opening, at maturity, in a pre-defined way, of a plant structure, such as a fruit, anther, or sporangium, to release its contents. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part. Structures that open in this way are said to be dehiscent...
by a transverse, apical cleft. A nectary disk encircles the stamens.
The ovary
Ovary (plants)
In the flowering plants, an ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower or gynoecium. Specifically, it is the part of the pistil which holds the ovule and is located above or below or at the point of connection with the base of the petals and sepals...
is 3-sided and 3-locular, with 8 to 14 ovule
Ovule
Ovule means "small egg". In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: The integument forming its outer layer, the nucellus , and the megaspore-derived female gametophyte in its center...
s per locule
Locule
A locule is a small cavity or compartment within an organ or part of an organism ....
. The placentation is axile. The style is short and stout, surmounted by three small, triangular stigmas
Stigma (botany)
The stigma is the receptive tip of a carpel, or of several fused carpels, in the gynoecium of a flower. The stigma receives pollen at pollination and it is on the stigma that the pollen grain germinates. The stigma is adapted to catch and trap pollen with various hairs, flaps, or sculpturings...
, these located opposite the stamens.
The fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
is distinctive, easily attracting attention by its odd appearance. There is usually only one per inflorescence. It has been described as three coherent capsules
Capsule (fruit)
In botany a capsule is a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. A capsule is a structure composed of two or more carpels that in most cases is dehiscent, i.e. at maturity, it splits apart to release the seeds within. A few capsules are indehiscent, for example...
and as a 3-locular caplule. It is dorso-ventrally flattened into a disk which hangs lantern-like from the peduncle attached at its center. It is green and variable in size, up to 18 cm in diameter.
In most of its close relatives, the three locules of the ovary become three separate fruits, but in Anthodon, they are united for their entire length and over half their width into a trilobed
Lobe (anatomy)
In anatomy, a lobe is a clear anatomical division or extension that can be determined without the use of a microscope This is in contrast to a lobule, which is a clear division only visible histologically....
capsule
Capsule (fruit)
In botany a capsule is a type of simple, dry fruit produced by many species of flowering plants. A capsule is a structure composed of two or more carpels that in most cases is dehiscent, i.e. at maturity, it splits apart to release the seeds within. A few capsules are indehiscent, for example...
with a notch at the end of each lobe. At maturity
Ripening
Ripening is a process in fruits that causes them to become more palatable. In general, a fruit becomes sweeter, less green, and softer as it ripens. Even though the acidity of fruit increases as it ripens, the higher acidity level does not make the fruit seem tarter, which can lead to the...
, the capsule breaks into three pieces, with each locule splitting down the middle and the adjacent halves of the locules remaining fused, sometimes weakly so.
Unlike many in Celastraceae, the seed
Seed
A seed is a small embryonic plant enclosed in a covering called the seed coat, usually with some stored food. It is the product of the ripened ovule of gymnosperm and angiosperm plants which occurs after fertilization and some growth within the mother plant...
s have no aril
Aril
An aril is any specialized outgrowth from the funiculus that covers or is attached to the seed. It is sometimes applied to any appendage or thickening of the seed coat in flowering plants, such as the edible parts of the mangosteen and pomegranate fruit, the mace of the nutmeg seed, or the...
. Eight to 14 are crowded into each locule. The basal part of the seed is a membranous wing with a single, central vein that forms as a remnant of the funiculus
Ovule
Ovule means "small egg". In seed plants, the ovule is the structure that gives rise to and contains the female reproductive cells. It consists of three parts: The integument forming its outer layer, the nucellus , and the megaspore-derived female gametophyte in its center...
. The embryoniferous
Embryo
An embryo is a multicellular diploid eukaryote in its earliest stage of development, from the time of first cell division until birth, hatching, or germination...
part of the seed is near the edge of the capsule.
Names
The name Anthodon was coined by RuizHipólito Ruiz López
Hipólito Ruiz López , or Hipólito Ruiz, was a Spanish botanist known for researching the floras of Peru and Chile during an expedition under Carlos III from 1777 to 1788...
and Pavon
José Antonio Pavón Jiménez
José Antonio Pavón Jiménez or José Antonio Pavón was a Spanish botanist known for researching the flora of Peru and Chile during an expedition under Carlos III from 1777 to 1788...
in 1798 in their masterpiece
Masterpiece
Masterpiece in modern usage refers to a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or to a work of outstanding creativity, skill or workmanship....
, Flora Peruviana et Chilensis. It means "flower tooth" or "flower teeth", and refers to the prominent teeth that line the margins of the sepals and petals. At the end of their description, they wrote, "Genus Anthodon à foliolis calycinis et petalis dentato-ciliatis nominavimus". They described one species, Anthodon decussatum, named for the decussate arrangement
Phyllotaxis
In botany, phyllotaxis or phyllotaxy is the arrangement of leaves on a plant stem .- Pattern structure :...
of the leaves. It is the type species
Type species
In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...
for the genus.
In 1940, Albert C. Smith
Albert Charles Smith
Albert Charles Smith was an American botanist.-Life:He was a director of the National Museum of Natural History, and chaired several important scientific societies, such as the American Society of Plant Taxonomists....
named the second species, Anthodon panamense. Some have doubted that Anthodon contains two species, suggesting that it might be a single species with a disjunct distribution
Disjunct distribution
In biology, a taxon with a disjunct distribution is one that has two or more groups that are related but widely separated from each other geographically...
and a Panamanian
Panama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
variety.
After Ruiz and Pavon established the genus Anthodon, several species were assigned to it by other authors, resulting in a genus that was hard to distinguish from a few others. These species have been reassigned to other genera.
Relatives
In a treatment of the family Celastraceae in 2004, Mark Simmons placed Anthodon in the subfamilyFamily (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
Hippocrateoideae, which contains about 100 species. Hippocrateoideae is one of three morphologically
Plant morphology
Plant morphology or phytomorphology is the study of the physical form and external structure of plants. This is usually considered distinct from plant anatomy, which is the study of the internal structure of plants, especially at the microscopic level...
distinct and monophyletic subfamilies
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...
embedded in the large, paraphyletic subfamily Celastroideae. The classification
Biological classification
Biological classification, or scientific classification in biology, is a method to group and categorize organisms by biological type, such as genus or species. Biological classification is part of scientific taxonomy....
proposed by Simmons is an artificial
Nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical world, or material world. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general...
construct, meant to be used until a phylogenetic classification
Systematics
Biological systematics is the study of the diversification of terrestrial life, both past and present, and the relationships among living things through time. Relationships are visualized as evolutionary trees...
of Celastraceae can be found.
The subfamily Hippocrateoideae (sensu
Sensu
Sensu is a Latin word meaning "in the sense of".It is used in a number of fields including biology, geology, linguistics, and law. Commonly it refers to how strictly or loosely an expression is used, but it also appears in expressions that indicate the convention or context of the usage.-Sensu and...
Simmons) encompasses about a third of the species of the now defunct family Hippocrateaceae that was erected by Jussieu
Antoine Laurent de Jussieu
Antoine Laurent de Jussieu was a French botanist, notable as the first to propose a natural classification of flowering plants; much of his system remains in use today.-Life:...
in 1811. The division of Hippocrateoideae into genera has been a source of considerable disagreement. Simmons recognizes 19 genera in this group. Most authors have recognized fewer genera and some have put all of the 100 or so species into one genus, a very broadly circumscribed
Circumscription (taxonomy)
In taxonomy, circumscription is the definition of the limits of a taxonomic group of organisms. One goal of taxonomy is to achieve a stable circumscription for every taxonomic group. Achieving stability can be simple or difficult....
Hippocratea.
Circumscription
The genus Anthodon has been variously "sunk" into other genera. In 1872, John MiersJohn Miers (botanist)
John Miers, FRS FLS, knight grand cross of the Order of the Rose, was a British botanist and engineer, best known for his work on the flora of Chile and Argentina....
placed the only species known at that time into Prionostemma
Prionostemma
Prionostemma is a large genus of harvestmen in the family Sclerosomatidae.-Species:* Prionostemma acentrus Forster, 1954* Prionostemma acuminatus * Prionostemma albimanum Roewer, 1912* Prionostemma albipalpe...
. Theodor Loesener
Ludwig Eduard Theodor Loesener
Ludwig Eduard Theodor Loesener was a German botanist.Collection of specimens in Europe: Amrum Islands , Alps, Black Forest, Bavaria, Tyrol, Rugen. Herbarium 14 Aquifoliaceae & cult. Ilex spp.-Abbreviation:...
placed it in Hippocratea subgenus
Subgenus
In biology, a subgenus is a taxonomic rank directly below genus.In zoology, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the generic name and the specific epithet: e.g. the Tiger Cowry of the Indo-Pacific, Cypraea tigris Linnaeus, which...
Pristimera.
Anthodon has not yet been sampled
Sample (material)
In general, a sample is a limited quantity of something which is intended to be similar to and represent a larger amount of that thing. The things could be countable objects such as individual items available as units for sale, or a material not countable as individual items. Samples of countable...
for DNA
DNA
Deoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms . The DNA segments that carry this genetic information are called genes, but other DNA sequences have structural purposes, or are involved in...
, but four of its close relatives, Hippocratea, Pristimera, Plagiopteron, and Loesenerella were sampled for a molecular phylogeny
Molecular phylogeny
Molecular phylogenetics is the analysis of hereditary molecular differences, mainly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. The result of a molecular phylogenetic analysis is expressed in a phylogenetic tree...
of Celastraceae that was published in 2008. The ultimate botanical
Botany
Botany, plant science, or plant biology is a branch of biology that involves the scientific study of plant life. Traditionally, botany also included the study of fungi, algae and viruses...
fate of Anthodon can not presently be known. It might be subsumed into some other genus or it might be expanded by having additional species transferred to it. Only further studies
Research
Research can be defined as the scientific search for knowledge, or as any systematic investigation, to establish novel facts, solve new or existing problems, prove new ideas, or develop new theories, usually using a scientific method...
of Celastraceae will provide an answer.
External links
- Plate LXXIV and
- Volume 1, page 45 In:
- Flora Peruviana et Chilensis
- http://www.ipni.org/ipni/advPlantNameSearch.do;jsessionid=F523474BCF030E1DC4EDECAE36CC3089?find_family=&find_genus=Anthodon&find_species=&find_infrafamily=&find_infragenus=&find_infraspecies=&find_authorAbbrev=&find_includePublicationAuthors=on&find_includePublicationAuthors=off&find_includeBasionymAuthors=on&find_includeBasionymAuthors=off&find_publicationTitle=&find_isAPNIRecord=on&find_isAPNIRecord=false&find_isGCIRecord=on&find_isGCIRecord=false&find_isIKRecord=on&find_isIKRecord=false&find_rankToReturn=all&output_format=normal&find_sortByFamily=on&find_sortByFamily=off&query_type=by_query&back_page=plantsearchAnthodon at IPNI]
- Annales du Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle volume 18. 1811.
- Introduction In:
- The American Species of Hippocrateaceae