Mitrephora Explained

Mitrephora is a genus of flowering plants in the family Annonaceae, that are native to an area that extends from China in the north to Queensland. Plants in the genus Mitrephora are also found in southern India (Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu) and Southeast Asia.

Description

Plants in the genus Mitrephora are trees or shrubs, the young shoots covered with reddish-brown hairs. The flowers are bisexual, usually arranged singly or in small groups in leaf axils. The sepals are valvate and fused at the base. The petals are valvate, the outer petals broad, flat and spreading, the inner petals with a broadly egg-shaped or spade-shaped blade with a long, narrow hinge at the base. The edges of the blades are fused. The stamens are wedge-shaped and the anthers are hidden. There are usually many carpels containing several ovules, and the stigma is more or less sessile. The fruit is fleshy, more or less spherical and yellow, containing several seeds.[1]

Taxonomy

The genus Mitrephora was first formally described in 1830 by Carl Ludwig Blume who gave it the name Uvaria sect. Mitrephorae in his Flora Javae nec non insularum adjacentium.[2] [3] In 1855, Joseph Dalton Hooker and Thomas Thomson raised the genus Mitrephora in their book Flora Indica.[4] [5] The genus name (Mitrephora) is from Greek mitra a "head dress" and phoretos meaning to "bear" or "wear", referring to the inner petals.

Species list

The following is a list of Mitrephora species accepted by Plants of the World Online as at July 2024:

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Notes and References

  1. Web site: Jessup . L.W. . Mitrephora . Flora of Australia. Australian Biological Resources Study, Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water: Canberra . 4 July 2024.
  2. Web site: Uvaria sect. Mitrephorae . Australian Plant Name Index . 4 July 2024.
  3. Book: Blume . Carl Ludwig . Flora Javae nec non insularum adjacentium . 1830 . J. Frank . Brussels . 13 . 4 July 2024.
  4. Web site: Mitrephora . Australian Plant Name Index . 4 July 2024.
  5. Book: Hooker . Joseph Dalton . Thomson . Thomas . Flora indica: being a systematic account of the plants of British India, together with observations on the structure and affinities of their natural orders and genera . 1855 . W. Pamplin . London . 112 . 4 July 2024.