Canthium Explained

Canthium is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. They are shrubs and small trees. The leaves are deciduous and the stems are usually thorny.

Distribution

Canthium species were predominantly found in Southeast Asia, especially in Thailand and the Philippines.[1] A small number of species was found in India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh. Only a limited number of species were found on the African continent, especially in Southern and East Africa.[2]

Taxonomy

Canthium was named by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1785 in Encyclopédie Méthodique.[3] The name is a latinisation of "kantankara", a Malayalam name from Kerala for Canthium coromandelicum. Kantan means "shining" and kara means "a spiny shrub".[4] The biological type for the genus consists of specimens originally described by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck as Canthium parviflorum[5] but this species is now included in Canthium coromandelicum.[1] Canthium is a member of Vanguerieae, a tribe that is monophyletic and easily recognized morphologically, but in which generic boundaries were, for a long time, very unclear.[6] Canthium was especially problematic, and until the 1980s, it was defined broadly and known to be polyphyletic. Psydrax was separated from it in 1985,[7] as was Keetia in 1986.[8] These were followed by Pyrostria and Multidentia in 1987.[9] [10] The subgenus Afrocanthium was raised to generic rank in 2004,[11] followed by Bullockia in 2009.[12] A few species were transferred to Canthium from Rytigynia and other genera in 2004.[11] The genus was further reduced by the transfer of species to Peponidium and Pyrostria.[13] In 2016, two Canthium species endemic to the Philippines were transferred to a genus of their own, Kanapia.[14] The final circumscription of Canthium will remain in doubt until phylogenetic studies achieve greater resolution for the clade containing Canthium coromandelicum and its closest relatives.

Species

, Plants of the World Online recognises the following species:

Notes and References

  1. Bridson DM. 1992. The genus Canthium (Rubiaceae - Vanguerieae) in tropical Africa. Kew Bulletin. 47. 3. 353–401. 10.2307/4110569. 4110569. 1992KewBu..47..353B .
  2. Web site: Canthium in the World Checklist of Rubiaceae. 8 November 2016.
  3. Book: Lamarck J-B. 1785. Encyclopédie méthodique par ordre des matières. 1. 602.
  4. Book: Quattrocchi U. 2000. CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names. 1. CRC Press. Boca Raton, New York, Washington DC, London. 978-0-8493-2675-2.
  5. Canthium In: Index Nominum Genericorum. In: Regnum Vegetabile
  6. Lantz H, Bremer B. 2005. Phylogeny of the complex Vanguerieae (Rubiaceae) genera Fadogia, Rytigynia, and Vangueria with close relatives and a new circumscription of Vangueria. Plant Systematics and Evolution. 253. 1–4. 159–183. 10.1007/s00606-005-0313-9. 2005PSyEv.253..159L . 30867982.
  7. Bridson DM. 1985. The reinstatement of Psydrax (Rubiaceae, subfam. Cinchonoideae tribe Vanguerieae) and a revision of the African species. Kew Bulletin. 40. 4. 687–725. 10.2307/4109853. 4109853. 1985KewBu..40..687B .
  8. Bridson DM. 1986. The reinstatement of the African genus Keetia (Rubiaceae subfam. Cinchonoideae tribe Vanguerieae). Kew Bulletin. 41. 4. 965–994. 10.2307/4102996. 4102996. 1986KewBu..41..965B .
  9. Bridson DM. 1987. Studies in African Rubiaceae - Vanguerieae: a new circumscription of Pyrostria and a new subgenus, Canthium subgen. Bullockia. Kew Bulletin. 47. 3. 611–639. 10.2307/4110068. 4110068. 1987KewBu..42..611B .
  10. Bridson DM. 1987. The recognition and recircumscription of the African genus Multidentia (Rubiaceae - Vanguerieae). Kew Bulletin. 47. 3. 641–654. 10.2307/4110069. 4110069. 1987KewBu..42..641B .
  11. Lantz H, Bremer B. 2004. Phylogeny inferred from morphology and DNA data: characterizing well-supported groups in Vanguerieae (Rubiaceae). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society. 146. 3. 257–283. 10.1111/j.1095-8339.2004.00338.x. free.
  12. Razafimandimbison SG, Lantz H, Mouly A, Bremer B. 2009. Evolutionary trends, major lineages, and new generic limits in the dioecious group of the tribe Vanguerieae (Rubiaceae): insights into the evolution of functional dioecy. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 96. 1. 161–181. 10.3417/2006191. 86065468.
  13. Kainulainen K, Razafimandimbison SG . 2016. New taxonomic combinations in West Indian Ocean Vanguerieae (Rubiaceae). Phytotaxa. 282. 4. 267–272. 10.11646/phytotaxa.282.4.3.
  14. Arriola AH, Paraguison LD, Alejandro GJ . 2016. Kanapia (Vanguerieae): a new endemic genus of Philippine Rubiaceae. Plant Systematics and Evolution. 302. 7. 911–920. 10.1007/s00606-016-1307-5. 2016PSyEv.302..911A . 14815565.

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