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''Comptonia'' is a
''Comptonia'' is a genus
Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nomencla ...
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 ...
s in the family Myricaceae
The Myricaceae are a small family of dicotyledonous shrubs and small trees in the order Fagales. There are three genera in the family, although some botanists separate many species from ''Myrica'' into a fourth genus ''Morella''. About 55 spe ...
, native to parts of eastern North America. It has one extant (living) species, '' Comptonia peregrina'', and a number of extinct species.
Taxonomy
The living species was first described, as ''Liquidambar peregrina'', by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, in the second volume of ''Species Plantarum
' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial names and was the ...
''. Further on in the same volume, he described ''Myrica aspleniifolia'' as a different species (with the epithet spelt ''asplenifolia''). In 1763, he changed his mind concerning ''Myrica aspleniifolia'', and it became ''Liquidambar aspleniifolia'', and so in the same genus as ''Liquidambar peregrina''.
In 1789, Charles Louis L'Héritier placed Linnaeus's original ''Myrica aspleniifolia'' in his new genus ''Comptonia''. The genus is named in honor of Rev. Henry Compton (1632-1713), bishop of Oxford.
In 1894, John M. Coulter transferred Linnaeus's ''Liquidambar peregrina'' to ''Comptonia'', and treated Linnaeus's ''Myrica aspleniifolia'' as a synonym
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are a ...
. ''Comptonia peregrina'' is now the only extant (living) species in the genus.
References
Myricaceae Fagales genera {{Fagales-stub