''Gaya'' is a genus 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 belonging to the family

Malvaceae Malvaceae, or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. There are also some genera containing familiar ...

. It has been classed in the

Malvoideae Malvoideae is a botanical name at the rank of subfamily, which includes in the minimum the genus ''Malva''. It was first used by Burnett in 1835, but was not much used until recently, where, within the framework of the APG System, which unites th ...

subfamily and the

Malveae Malveae is a Tribe (biology), tribe of flowering plants in the Malva, mallow Family (biology), family Malvaceae, Family (biology), subfamily Malvoideae. The tribe Circumscription (taxonomy), circumscribes approximately 70 genera and 1040 species a ...

tribe. It is native to Tropical America with its greatest diversity in Brazil (up to 14 species). It is also found in the countries of

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Leeward Is., Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela.

General description

Shrubs or herbs, with toothed leaves, flowers either yellowish or purplish, mainly solitary in the axils, sometimes

racemose 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 ...

, with 8

carpels Gynoecium (; ) is most commonly used as a collective term for the parts of a flower that produce ovules and ultimately develop into the fruit and seeds. The gynoecium is the innermost whorl of a flower; it consists of (one or more) ''pistils'' ...

or more, membranaceous, bi-valvate and one seeded.

Taxonomy

The genus name of ''Gaya'' is in honour of

Jaques Étienne Gay Jaques Étienne Gay (1786 in Switzerland – 1864) was a Swiss-French botanist, civil servant, collector and taxonomist. His name is associated with plants in standardised botanical nomenclature, e.g. ''Crocus sieberi'' J.Gay. He was the most fam ...

(1786–1864), a Swiss-French botanist, civil servant, collector and taxonomist. It was first described and published in (F.W.H.von Humboldt, A.J.A.Bonpland & C.S.Kunth; Editors), Nov. Gen. Sp. Vol.5 on page 266 in 1823.

Known species

According to Kew;

References

External links

BONPLANDIA 9 (1-2): 57-87. 1996, SINOPSIS DEL GENERO GAYA (MALVACEAE), por A. KRAPOVICKAS (In Spanish, descriptions of many species of Gaya) {{Taxonbar, from=Q4039302 Malpighiaceae Malpighiaceae genera Plants described in 1823 Flora of South America