Peltophorum Explained

Peltophorum is a genus of 5–15 species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae.^[1] The genus is native to certain tropical regions across the world, including northern South America, central and southern Africa, Indochina, southeastern China, Malesia, New Guinea, and northern Australia. The species are medium-sized to large trees growing up to 15–25 m tall, rarely 50 m.^{[2] [3]}

Etymology

Peltophorum literally means "shield-bearing": from Greek ("peltē shield"), with the interfix, -phor(os) ("bearing") and Neo-Latin suffix .

It is a reference to the peltate (shield-like) form of the plant's stigma.^[4]

Species

, the following species were accepted by Plants of the World Online:

• Peltophorum africanum Sond.
• Peltophorum dasyrhachis (Miq.) Kurz
• Peltophorum dubium (Spreng.) Taub.
• Peltophorum grande Prain
• Peltophorum pterocarpum (DC.) K.Heyne
• Peltophorum racemosum Merr.
• Peltophorum venezuelense L.Cardenas, Rodr.-Rodr. & Varela

Notes and References

1. The Legume Phylogeny Working Group (LPWG). . 2017 . A new subfamily classification of the Leguminosae based on a taxonomically comprehensive phylogeny . . 66 . 1 . 44–77 . 10.12705/661.3. free . 10568/90658 . free .
2. Germplasm Resources Information Network: Peltophorum
3. Huxley, A., ed. (1992). New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. Macmillan .
4. Book: Blatter, Ethelbert . Some beautiful Indian Trees . Millard, Walter Samuel . 1977 . Bombay natural History Society . Mumbai . 2. 1937. 109–111 . The generic name Peltophorum means "shield-bearing" (from the ancient Greek word Greek, Ancient (to 1453);: πέλτη [{{transliteration|grc|pĕltē}}] "a small light shield") and refers to the peltate stigma..