Geissoloma Explained

Geissoloma is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Geissolomataceae, native to the Cape Province of South Africa.^[1] Geissoloma marginatum is the only species in the family.^[2] It is sometimes called guyalone in English. The plants are xerophytic evergreen shrubs and are known to accumulate aluminum. ^[3]

Description

Geissoloma marginatum is a low evergreen shrub of ½-1¼ m high, covered in overlapping large, leathery, simple, scale-like, opposite leaves in four rows along the stems. It has very small stipules on the petioles. Flowers are bisexual, subtended by bracts, and have four red to pinkish petaloid sepals, four petals partially united, eight stamens, and four carpels. The fruit is a capsule with four seeds.

Phylogeny

Recent phylogenetic analysis resulted in the following tree.^[4]

Notes and References

1. Book: Andrew Millington. Mark Blumler. Udo Schickhoff. The SAGE Handbook of Biogeography. 2013-08-07. 2011-09-22. SAGE Publications. 978-1-4462-5445-5. 143–. The Cape Floristic Region in South Africa is comparatively rich in endemic flowering-plant families. Five families of angiosperms (Penaeaceae, Roridulaceae, Geissolomataceae, Grubbiaceae, and Lanariaceae) are endemic to that region ....
2. Book: Clemens Bayer. P. F. Stevens. Flowering Plants. Eudicots: Berberidopsidales, Buxales, Crossosomatales, Fabales p.p., Geraniales, Gunnerales, Myrtales p.p., Proteales, Saxifragales, Vitales, Zygophyllales, Clusiaceae Alliance, Passifloraceae Alliance, Dilleniaceae, Huaceae, Picramniaceae, Sabiaceae. 2013-08-07. 2007-04-24. Springer. 978-3-540-32219-1. 155–. Geissolomataceae Endl., Ench. Bot. ... A single genus and species, Geissoloma marginatum (L.) A. Juss., restricted to the southern Langeberg mountains in the Cape of South Africa from the Swellendam to Riversdale divisions, on moist ....
3. Web site: Vegetation of SA. PlantsZAfrica.
4. Oh. S.H.. 2010. Phylogeny and systematics of Crossosomatales as inferred from chloroplast atpB, matK, and rbcL sequences. Korean Journal of Plant Taxonomy. 40. 4. 208–217. 10.11110/kjpt.2010.40.4.208. free.