''Agave coetocapnia'' is a
species
In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...
of
flowering plant
Flowering plants are plants that bear flowers and fruits, and form the clade Angiospermae (), commonly called angiosperms. The term "angiosperm" is derived from the Greek words ('container, vessel') and ('seed'), and refers to those plants th ...
in the family
Asparagaceae
Asparagaceae, known as the asparagus family, is a family of flowering plants, placed in the order Asparagales of the monocots. The family name is based on the edible garden asparagus, ''Asparagus officinalis''. Those who live in the temperate c ...
, native to Mexico.
[ It was first described in 1824 as ''Bravoa geminiflora''. It has been known by several other scientific names, including, in whole or part, ''Polianthes geminiflora''. It has been cultivated as an ]ornamental plant
Ornamental plants or garden plants are plants that are primarily grown for their beauty but also for qualities such as scent or how they shape physical space. Many flowering plants and garden varieties tend to be specially bred cultivars that i ...
.[
]
Description
''Agave coetocapnia'' grows from a tuber
Tubers are a type of enlarged structure used as storage organs for nutrients in some plants. They are used for the plant's perennation (survival of the winter or dry months), to provide energy and nutrients for regrowth during the next growing ...
. The leaves grow mainly as a basal rosette, and have a broad base, tapering to become linear. The flowering stem ( scape) is about tall, and has small leaves which gradually turn into bracts within the inflorescence
An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...
, which is a terminal raceme
A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...
. Individual flowers are orange-red in colour, drooping, with six tepal
A tepal is one of the outer parts of a flower (collectively the perianth). The term is used when these parts cannot easily be classified as either sepals or petals. This may be because the parts of the perianth are undifferentiated (i.e. of very ...
s about long. At the base of the raceme, the flowers are borne individually; higher up, a pair of pedicels, each bearing a single flower, emerges from the same three bracts. There are six stamens and a style that protrudes from the flower and is terminated by a three-lobed stigma.[
]
Taxonomy
The complex nomenclatural history of the species was discussed by Rafaël Govaerts
Rafaël Herman Anna Govaerts (born 1968) is a Belgian botanist. He is particularly noted for his work on plant taxonomy.
He has worked at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew since the 1990s, and is the principal contributor to the World Checklist of ...
and Joachim Thiede
Joachim (; ''Yəhōyāqīm'', "he whom Yahweh has set up"; ; ) was, according to Christian tradition, the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Biblical apocryphal ...
in 2013. The first description of the species was by Juan de Lexarza in 1824, under the name ''Bravoa geminiflora''. It was independently described under the same epithet twice more: in 1828 by Johann Link and Christoph Otto, as ''Coetocapnia geminiflora'', and in 1841 by Auguste Drapiez Pierre Auguste Joseph Drapiez (28 August 1778, Lille – 28 December 1856, Brussels) was a Belgian naturalist.
He founded with the French botanist Jean Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent (1778–1846) and the Belgian chemist Jean-Baptiste Van Mons ( ...
, as ''Robynsia geminiflora''. Govaerts and Thiede commented that this may be the only case where three botanists have independently chosen the same epithet in different genera for the same species.[ The epithet means "with twin flowers".][
In 1903, Joseph Nelson Rose transferred ''Bravoa geminiflora'' to ''Polianthes'' as ''Polianthes geminiflora''. ]Molecular phylogenetic
Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...
studies have shown that the genus ''Polianthes'' is embedded within the larger genus ''Agave'', and ''Polianthes'' has been subsumed into a more broadly defined ''Agave''. ''P. geminiflora'' could not be transferred to ''Agave'' as "''Agave geminiflora''" because this name already existed. Accordingly, in 1999, Joachim Thiede and Urs Eggli
Urs (from ''‘Urs'') or ''Urus'' (literal meaning wedding), is the death anniversary of a Sufi saint, usually held at the saint's dargah (shrine or tomb). In most Sufi orders such as Naqshbandiyyah, Suhrawardiyya, Chishtiyya, Qadiriyya, etc. t ...
chose ''Agave duplicata'' as a replacement name
In biological nomenclature, a ''nomen novum'' (Latin for "new name"), new replacement name (or replacement name, new substitute name, substitute name) is a scientific name that is created specifically to replace another scientific name, but only w ...
. However, in 1847, Max Joseph Roemer
Max Joseph Roemer (1791–1849) was a German botanist who worked in Weimar.
Roemer served as ''Landrichter'' (country judge) in the Bavarian town of Aub before working as a private scientist in Würzburg. and is the taxonomic authority of the gene ...
had transferred the species, under Link and Otto's name ''Coetocapnia geminiflora'', from ''Coetocapnia'' to ''Bravoa''. Since Roemer regarded ''Bravoa geminiflora'' as a separate species, he could not use the same epithet, so published the replacement name ''Bravoa coetocapnia''.[ The epithet ''coetocapnia'' is thus the next oldest distinct epithet after ''geminiflora''. Under the rules of the , the earliest available epithet must be used. Hence ''Polianthes geminiflora'' becomes ''Agave coetocapnia'' when placed in ''Agave''.][
]
Subspecies
, ''Agave coetocapnia'' has three accepted subspecies:
Distribution and habitat
''Agave coetocapnia'' is native to central Mexico, northeastern Mexico and southwestern Mexico.[ The original description described its habitat only as "" ('in Mexican mountains').][ It has been described as growing in "winter-dry oak forests".][
]
Cultivation
''Agave coetocapnia'' (under several of its synonyms) has been cultivated as an ornamental bulbous plant
Ornamental bulbous plants, often called ornamental bulbs or just bulbs in gardening and horticulture, are herbaceous perennials grown for ornamental purposes, which have underground or near ground storage organs. Botanists distinguish betwe ...
since before 1853, when it was described as a "beautiful plant", flowering in July, and easy to cultivate in a warm greenhouse in England.[ It has been grown outside in ]North Carolina
North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
where it has survived temperatures down to about .[ It is reported to winter successfully outside in a warm position in southern England.][ It is recommended that it be kept dry in winter.][
]
References
{{Taxonbar, from1=Q62084130, from2=Q7209383, from3=Q391711
coetocapnia
Flora of Central Mexico
Flora of Northeastern Mexico
Flora of Southeastern Mexico
Plants described in 1847