''Andesanthus'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

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

Melastomataceae Melastomataceae is a family of dicotyledonous flowering plants found mostly in the tropics (two-thirds of the genera are from the New World tropics) comprising c. 175 genera and c. 5115 known species. Melastomes are annual or perennial herbs, sh ...

, native to

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ''Eku ...

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

Peru , image_flag = Flag of Peru.svg , image_coat = Escudo nacional del Perú.svg , other_symbol = Great Seal of the State , other_symbol_type = Seal (emblem), National seal , national_motto = "Fi ...

and

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. The genus was established in 2019 for some species formerly placed in ''

Tibouchina ''Tibouchina'' "Tibouchina." Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged. Merriam Webster, 1961. is a Neotropical realm, neotropical flowering plant genus in the family Melastomataceae. Species of this genus a ...

''. Some species are cultivated as ornamental shrubs or trees. Tibouchina lepidota, known as Siete Cueros (9976451753)

Description

Species of ''Andesanthus'' are trees between 5 and 20 m tall at maturity or shrubs 1–3 m tall. Their leaves are opposite and

petiolate Petiole may refer to: *Petiole (botany), the stalk of a leaf, attaching the blade to the stem *Petiole (insect anatomy) In entomology, petiole is the technical term for the narrow waist of some hymenopteran insects, especially ants, bees, a ...

(stalked). 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 ...

is a terminal

panicle A panicle is a much-branched inflorescence. (softcover ). Some authors distinguish it from a compound spike inflorescence, by requiring that the flowers (and fruit) be pedicellate (having a single stem per flower). The branches of a panicle are of ...

or some modification of a panicle. The flowers are

perigynous In the flowering plants, an ovary is a part of the female reproductive organ of the flower or gynoecium. Specifically, it is the part of the pistil which holds the ovule(s) and is located above or below or at the point of connection with the bas ...

wih a bell- or urn-shaped

hypanthium In angiosperms, a hypanthium or floral cup is a structure where basal portions of the calyx, the corolla, and the stamens form a cup-shaped tube. It is sometimes called a floral tube, a term that is also used for corolla tube and calyx tube. It ...

, externally with many soft hairs (pubescent) in most species. The flowers have five free

petal Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...

s, which are pink, purple, magenta or white in colour, or initially magenta or rose-red fading to lavender with age. Flowers have ten

stamen The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10 Morphology and terminology A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...

s, either all the same size or in two distinct sizes. The connective at the base of the anther of the stamen is prolonged and modified into a bilobed ventral appendage. The numerous seeds are shaped like a spiral (cochleate) which may be elongated. ''Andesanthus'' can be distinguished by its coating of small flattened scales (lepidote), hairless (glabrous) stamens which either have all their anthers yellow if of one size or have the larger anthers yellow and the smaller anthers pink or red if of two sizes.

Taxonomy

The genus ''Andesanthus'' was erected in 2019. The name reflects the fact that the majority of species occur in the

Andes The Andes, Andes Mountains or Andean Mountains (; ) are the longest continental mountain range in the world, forming a continuous highland along the western edge of South America. The range is long, wide (widest between 18°S – 20°S ...

. In 1885, in his treatment for ''Flora brasiliensis'',

Alfred Cogniaux Célestin Alfred Cogniaux (7 April 1841 – 15 April 1916) was a Belgian botanist. Amongst other plants, the genus '' Neocogniauxia'' of orchids is named after him. In 1916 his enormous private herbarium was acquired by the National Botanic ...

used a broad concept of the genus ''

'', transferring into it species at that time placed in many other genera. This broad concept was generally adopted subsequently, and around 470 taxa were at one time or another assigned to ''Tibouchina'', including those placed in ''Andesanthus'' in 2019. A

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

analysis in 2013 based on molecular data (2

plastid The plastid (Greek: πλαστός; plastós: formed, molded – plural plastids) is a membrane-bound organelle found in the Cell (biology), cells of plants, algae, and some other eukaryotic organisms. They are considered to be intracellular endosy ...

and 1

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: * Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics *Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

regions) showed that the traditional circumscription of ''Tibouchina'' was paraphyletic. Four major

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

s were resolved within the genus, which were supported by morphological, molecular and geographic evidence. A further

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 ...

study in 2019 used the same molecular markers but included more species. It reached the same conclusion: the original broadly circumscribed ''Tibouchina'' consisted of four monophyletic clades. The authors proposed a split into four genera: a more narrowly circumscribed ''Tibouchina'', two re-established genera ''Pleroma'' and '' Chaetogastra'', and a new genus, ''Andesanthus''. The part of their maximum likelihood

cladogram A cladogram (from Greek ''clados'' "branch" and ''gramma'' "character") is a diagram used in cladistics to show relations among organisms. A cladogram is not, however, an evolutionary tree because it does not show how ancestors are related to d ...

which includes former ''Tibouchina'' species is as follows, using their genus names and with shading added to show the original broadly circumscribed ''Tibouchina'' s.l. (The relationship between ''Chaetogastra'' and the genus '' Brachyotum'' differed between analyses.) ''Andesanthus'' is shown to be sister to either ''Chaetogastra'' or a clade combining ''Chaetogastra'' and ''Brachyotum''.

Species

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants by ...

accepted the following species: *'' Andesanthus aristeguietae'' (Wurdack) P.J.F.Guim. & Michelang. *'' Andesanthus elegantulus'' (Todzia & Almeda) P.J.F.Guim. & Michelang. *'' Andesanthus gleasonianus'' (Wurdack) P.J.F.Guim. & Michelang. *'' Andesanthus inopinatus'' (Wurdack) P.J.F.Guim. & Michelang. *''

Andesanthus lepidotus ''Andesanthus lepidotus'', synonym ''Tibouchina lepidota'', also known as alstonville, Andean princess flower, lasiandra, or glory bush, is a medium-sized ornamental tree or a large shrub native to northwestern South America that is cultivated fo ...

'' (Humb. & Bonpl.) P.J.F.Guim. & Michelang. *'' Andesanthus narinoensis'' (Wurdack) P.J.F.Guim. & Michelang. *'' Andesanthus paleaceus'' (Triana) P.J.F.Guim. & Michelang. *'' Andesanthus silvestris'' (Todzia & Almeda) P.J.F.Guim. & Michelang. *'' Andesanthus wurdackii'' (Almeda & Todzia) P.J.F.Guim. & Michelang.

Distribution and habitat

''Andesanthus'' species are found in Central America (

and

) and northern South America (

and

). Most are found in the

. Two species are found in the mountains of Costa Rica and Panama. The largest number of species are found in Colombia. They grow in cool

montane forest Montane ecosystems are found on the slopes of mountains. The alpine climate in these regions strongly affects the ecosystem because temperatures fall as elevation increases, causing the ecosystem to stratify. This stratification is a crucial f ...

s and along forest margins.

Cultivation

Some species of ''Andesanthus'' are cultivated as ornamental shrubs or trees. The

cultivar A cultivar is a type of cultivated plant that people have selected for desired traits and when propagated retain those traits. Methods used to propagate cultivars include: division, root and stem cuttings, offsets, grafting, tissue culture, ...

'Alstonville' of ''Andesanthus lepidotus'' (

syn. The Botanical and Zoological Codes of nomenclature treat the concept of synonymy differently. * In botanical nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that applies to a taxon that (now) goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linnae ...

''Tibouchina lepidota'') was developed in

Alstonville, New South Wales Alstonville is a town in northern New South Wales, Australia, part of the region known as the Northern Rivers. Alstonville is on the Bruxner Highway between the town of Ballina (13 km to the east) and city of Lismore (19 km to the w ...

in Australia, where this species and its cultivars are popular cultivated plants.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q93745904 Melastomataceae Melastomataceae genera