''Kaliphora madagascarensis'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of evergreen

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 ...

or small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

. It is

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 ...

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 inhabits subhumid woodlands and forests in eastern Madagascar, in the provinces of

Antananarivo Antananarivo ( French: ''Tananarive'', ), also known by its colonial shorthand form Tana, is the capital and largest city of Madagascar. The administrative area of the city, known as Antananarivo-Renivohitra ("Antananarivo-Mother Hill" or "An ...

Antsiranana Antsiranana ( mg, Antsiran̈ana ), named Diego-Suárez prior to 1975, is a city in the far north of Madagascar. Antsiranana is the capital of Diana Region. It had an estimated population of 115,015 in 2013. History The bay and city originally u ...

Fianarantsoa Fianarantsoa is a city (commune urbaine) in south central Madagascar, and is the capital of Haute Matsiatra Region. History It was built in the early 19th century by the Merina as the administrative capital for the newly conquered Betsileo king ...

, and

Mahajanga Mahajanga (French: Majunga) is a city and an administrative district on the northwest coast of Madagascar. The city of Mahajanga (Mahajanga I) is the capital of the Boeny Region. The district (identical to the city) had a population of 220,629 i ...

Description

''Kaliphora madagascariensis'' is a shrub or tree which grows 1 to 4 meters tall.

Range and habitat

''Kaliphora madagascariensis'' is widespread in northern, central, and south-central Madagascar. It is chiefly found in the highlands of former Antsiranana, Mahajanga, Antananarivo and Fianaratsoa provinces. The species' estimated

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 420 km², and 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 149,903 km², based on known extant subpopulations. Its principal habitats are dry, humid, and subhumid montane evergreen forests. It ranges from 50 to 2000 meters elevation.

Classification

''Kaliphora madagascarensis'' is the sole species of the genus ''Kaliphora''. Some recent classification systems, including the

APG IV The APG IV system of flowering plant classification is the fourth version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy for flowering plants (angiosperms) being developed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG). It was publishe ...

, classify the genus as part of family

Montiniaceae Montiniaceae is a family of flowering plants. It includes two or three genera of shrubs and small trees, native to southwest Africa and tropical East Africa as well as Madagascar. The genera '' Grevea'' and '' Montinia'' are included in most c ...

; other systems, including that of

Armen Takhtajan Armen Leonovich Takhtajan or Takhtajian ( hy, Արմեն Լևոնի Թախտաջյան; russian: Армен Леонович Тахтаджян; surname also transliterated Takhtadjan, Takhtadzhi︠a︡n or Takhtadzhian, pronounced takh-tuh-JA ...

, classify ''Kaliphora'' in its own family, Kaliphoraceae.

References

External links

''Kaliphora madagascariensis'' in efloras.org
{{Taxonbar, from=Q142906 Endemic flora of Madagascar Flora of the Madagascar subhumid forests Monotypic Solanales genera Solanales