Pineda is a genus

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 willow

Willow

Willows, sallows, and osiers form the genus Salix, around 400 species of deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere...

 family, Salicaceae

Salicaceae

Salicaceae are a family of flowering plants. Recent genetic studies summarized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group has greatly expanded the circumscription of the family to contain 55 genera....

. It contains 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 shrubs: Pineda incana, which is native to the Andes

Andes

The Andes is the world's longest continental mountain range. It is a continual range of highlands along the western coast of South America. This range is about long, about to wide , and of an average height of about .Along its length, the Andes is split into several ranges, which are separated...

 of Ecuador

Ecuador

Ecuador , officially the Republic of Ecuador is a representative democratic republic in South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and by the Pacific Ocean to the west. It is one of only two countries in South America, along with Chile, that do not have a border...

 and Peru

Peru

Peru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....

, and Pineda ovata, which is native to the Andes of Bolivia

Bolivia

Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...

.

Pineda is unique among Salicaceae in that the species have 4-5 sepals and petals, hermaphroditic flowers, receptacular disk glands (=nectaries), and outer filamentous staminodes. It is one of few genera of Salicaceae that occur at high elevations. Formerly placed in the heterogeneous family Flacourtiaceae

Flacourtiaceae

Flacourtiaceae is a defunct family of flowering plants whose former members have been scattered to various other families, mostly to Achariaceae, Samydaceae, and Salicaceae. It was so vaguely defined that hardly anything seemed out of place there and it became a dumping ground for odd and anomalous...

, Pineda is now classified in tribe Prockieae of Salicaceae, along with close relatives Prockia, Banara

Banara

Banara is a genus of plant in family Salicaceae ....

, Hasseltiopsis, and Neosprucea

Neosprucea

Neosprucea is a genus of flowering plant in the Malvaceae family....

.

Pineda was named in honor of Antonio Pineda

Antonio Pineda

Antonio Pineda was a Guatemalan botanist born to Spanish parents. He was coordinator of the biologists, including Thaddäus Haenke and Luis Née, aboard the expedition of Alessandro Malaspina in the Pacific....

, a Guatemalan botanist who was coordinator of the naturalists aboard the Pacific expedition of Alessandro Malaspina

Alessandro Malaspina

Alessandro Malaspina was an Italian nobleman who spent most of his life as a Spanish naval officer and explorer...

.

Pineda incana is known as "lloqui," "lloque," "lloquecillos," or "manzanitas cimarronas," and Pineda ovata is known as "duraznillo." Pineda ovata is commonly misidentified as Prockia crucis (Salicaceae).