''Henonia'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispec ...

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

Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it ...

. It only contains one species, ''Henonia scoparia'' Moq. It is native to

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 ...

, where it is known as ''kifafalahy''.

Description

''Henonia scoparia'' is a shrub or small tree which grows from 1 to 2.5 meters tall. Flowers appear in March, and it fruits starting in November.

Range and habitat

Henonia scoparia is endemic to southwestern Madagascar, in former

Toliara Province The Toliara Province (formerly Toliary or Tuléar) is a former provinces of Madagascar, province of Madagascar with an area of . It had a population of 2,229,550 (July, 2001). Its capital was Toliara. Near Toliara was the "Madagascar spiny thickets ...

. It is known from four herbarium specimens, with three known locations. Based on these

collections Collection or Collections may refer to: * Cash collection, the function of an accounts receivable department * Collection (church), money donated by the congregation during a church service * Collection agency, agency to collect cash * Collection ...

, the species' estimated

extent of occurrence Extent may refer to: Computing * Extent (file systems), a contiguous region of computer storage medium reserved for a file * Extent File System, a discontinued file system implementation named after the contiguous region * Extent, a chunk of st ...

(EOO) is 7,150 km², and its

area of occupancy Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape or planar lamina, while '' surface area'' refers to the area of an open s ...

(AOO) is 16 km². It is found in dry forest, bushland, dunes, and thickets in the

Madagascar succulent woodlands The Madagascar succulent woodlands are a xeric shrublands ecoregion in southwestern and central western Madagascar. Native plants survive in the arid climate and long dry season with adaptations like succulent leaves, water storing trunks, photosy ...

and

Madagascar spiny thickets The Madagascar spiny forests (also known as the Madagascar spiny thickets) is an ecoregion in the southwest of Madagascar. The vegetation type is found on poor substrates with low, erratic winter rainfall. The ecoregion contains an outstanding pr ...

ecoregions, between 100 and 520 meters elevation. Little is known about the population size of the species. The species' native habitat is threatened with degradation by human activity.

Name

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

Jacques-Louis Hénon Jacques-Louis Hénon (31 May 1802 in Lyon – 28 March 1872 in Montpellier) was a French republican politician. He was member of the Corps législatif in 1852 and from 1857 to 1869. He was the mayor of Lyon from 1870 to 1872. Earlier in his ...

(1802–1872), a French republican politician. The Latin

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

of ''scoparia'' refers to broom, from ''scopae''. It was first described and published in (A.P.de Candolle), Prodr. Vol.13 (Issue 2) on page 237 in 1849.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5894389 Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae genera Endemic flora of Madagascar Flora of the Madagascar spiny thickets Flora of the Madagascar succulent woodlands Plants described in 1849