''Gnidia'' 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 ...

s in the family

Thymelaeaceae The Thymelaeaceae are a cosmopolitan family of flowering plants composed of 50 genera (listed below) and 898 species.Zachary S. Rogers (2009 onwards)A World Checklist of Thymelaeaceae (version 1) Missouri Botanical Garden Website, St. Louis. It ...

. It is distributed in

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

Madagascar Madagascar (; mg, Madagasikara, ), officially the Republic of Madagascar ( mg, Repoblikan'i Madagasikara, links=no, ; french: République de Madagascar), is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately off the coast of East Africa ...

Arabia The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

; more than half of all the species are

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

.Rogers, Z. S. (2006)
A new species of Malagasy ''Gnidia'' and the lectotypification of ''Octolepis decalepis'' (Thymelaeaceae).
''Adansonia, sér.'' 3(28), 155-60. ''Gnidia'' was named for

Knidos Knidos or Cnidus (; grc-gre, Κνίδος, , , Knídos) was a Ancient Greece, Greek city in ancient Caria and part of the Dorian Hexapolis, in south-western Asia Minor, modern-day Turkey. It was situated on the Datça peninsula, which forms the ...

, an

Ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic peri ...

city located in modern-day

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

.Hyde, M. A., et al
''Gnidia''.
Flora of Zimbabwe. 2013. These are perennial herbs and

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

s, sometimes with

rhizome In botany and dendrology, a rhizome (; , ) is a modified subterranean plant stem that sends out roots and shoots from its nodes. Rhizomes are also called creeping rootstalks or just rootstalks. Rhizomes develop from axillary buds and grow hori ...

s. Most species have alternately arranged leaves, and a few have opposite leaves. The leaves are undivided and unlobed. 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 head of a few to many flowers. The calyx is cylindrical and the colored lobes may alternate with the

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; some species lack petals. Many species are similar in appearance and difficult to tell apart. Molecular analyses have provided evidence that the genus is

polyphyletic A polyphyletic group is an assemblage of organisms or other evolving elements that is of mixed evolutionary origin. The term is often applied to groups that share similar features known as homoplasies, which are explained as a result of converg ...

, made up of four different lineages. They are related to the four genera ''

Struthiola ''Struthiola'' is a genus of plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. In habit they are ericoid shrubs or shrublets. Overview There are forty-odd species, mainly South African, mainly occurring in the Western Cape, about 25 endemic to fynbos. Their ...

'', '' Drapetes'', ''

Lasiosiphon ''Lasiosiphon'' is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Thymelaeaceae. Its native range is tropical and southern Africa, Madagascar, southwestern Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِي ...

'', and ''

Pimelea ''Pimelea'', commonly known as rice flowers, is a genus of plants belonging to the family Thymelaeaceae. There are about 150 species, including 110 in Australia and thirty six in New Zealand. Description Plants in the genus ''Pimelea'' are he ...

''.Beaumont, A. J., et al. (2009)
''Gnidia'' (Thymelaeaceae) is not monophyletic: taxonomic implications for Thymelaeoideae and a partial new generic taxonomy for ''Gnidia''.
''Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society'' 160(4), 402-17. There are 140 to 160 species classified in the genus.Bhandurge, P., et al. (2013)
The ''Gnidia'' genus: A review.
''Asian Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences'' 3(19), 1-31. Species include: *''

Gnidia anthylloides ''Gnidia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is distributed in Africa, Madagascar, Arabia, India, and Sri Lanka; more than half of all the species are endemic to South Africa.Rogers, Z. S. (2006)A new species of Malag ...

'' *''

Gnidia burchellii ''Gnidia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is distributed in Africa, Madagascar, Arabian Peninsula, Arabia, India, and Sri Lanka; more than half of all the species are endemism, endemic to South Africa.Rogers, Z. S. ...

'' *''

Gnidia caffra ''Gnidia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is distributed in Africa, Madagascar, Arabia, India, and Sri Lanka; more than half of all the species are endemic to South Africa.Rogers, Z. S. (2006)A new species of Malag ...

'' *'' Gnidia capitata'' *'' Gnidia carinata'' *''

Gnidia chapmanii ''Gnidia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is distributed in Africa, Madagascar, Arabia, India, and Sri Lanka; more than half of all the species are endemic to South Africa.Rogers, Z. S. (2006)A new species of Malag ...

'' *'' Gnidia chrysantha'' *'' Gnidia chrysophylla'' *'' Gnidia ericoides'' *'' Gnidia fastigiata'' *'' Gnidia humilis'' *'' Gnidia insignis'' *''

Gnidia involucrata ''Gnidia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is distributed in Africa, Madagascar, Arabia, India, and Sri Lanka; more than half of all the species are endemic to South Africa.Rogers, Z. S. (2006)A new species of Malag ...

'' *''

Gnidia kraussiana ''Gnidia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is distributed in Africa, Madagascar, Arabian Peninsula, Arabia, India, and Sri Lanka; more than half of all the species are endemism, endemic to South Africa.Rogers, Z. S. ...

'' *'' Gnidia latifolia'' *'' Gnidia microcephala'' *''

Gnidia mollis ''Gnidia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is distributed in Africa, Madagascar, Arabia, India, and Sri Lanka; more than half of all the species are endemic to South Africa.Rogers, Z. S. (2006)A new species of Malag ...

'' *'' Gnidia nana'' *'' Gnidia ornata'' *'' Gnidia pedunculata'' *'' Gnidia polycephala'' *'' Gnidia razakamalalana'' * '' Gnidia socotrana'' *''

Gnidia sonderiana ''Gnidia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is distributed in Africa, Madagascar, Arabia, India, and Sri Lanka; more than half of all the species are endemic to South Africa.Rogers, Z. S. (2006)A new species of Malag ...

'' *''

Gnidia spicata ''Gnidia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is distributed in Africa, Madagascar, Arabia, India, and Sri Lanka; more than half of all the species are endemic to South Africa.Rogers, Z. S. (2006)A new species of Malag ...

'' *''

Gnidia squarrosa ''Gnidia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. It is distributed in Africa, Madagascar, Arabia, India, and Sri Lanka; more than half of all the species are endemic to South Africa.Rogers, Z. S. (2006)A new species of Malag ...

'' *'' Gnidia usafuae'' *'' Gnidia variabilis'' *'' Gnidia virescens'' *'' Gnidia wickstroemiana''

References

External links

Species listing: ''Gnidia''.
Red List of South African Plants. South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI). Taxonomy articles created by Polbot Thymelaeoideae Malvales genera {{Thymelaeaceae-stub