''Mecardonia'' (axilflower) is a genus of herbaceous plants in the family

Plantaginaceae Plantaginaceae, the plantain family, is a large, diverse family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales that includes common flowers such as snapdragon and foxglove. It is unrelated to the banana-like fruit also called "plantain." In older cl ...

. 31 species have been described, of which 12 are accepted. Its distribution is predominantly in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

, and South East

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, including

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama (state song), Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery, Alabama, Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville, Alabama, Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County, Al ...

but may be found as far north as

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

. (see map) Five species are found in ArgentinaAlderete, L.; Mori, M.; Kato, A.; Escandón, A.. Establishment of an in vitro micropropagation protocol for Mecardonia tenella. Electronic Journal of Biotechnology, North America, 915 06 2006.
/ref> and three in the US. Adjoa Richardson Ahedor. Systematics of the Mecardonia acuminata (tribe Gratioleae, Plantaginaceae) complex of southeastern USA
/ref>

Description

They are

herbaceous Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials. Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous" The fourth edition of t ...

procumbent This page provides a glossary of plant morphology. Botanists and other biologists who study plant morphology use a number of different terms to classify and identify plant organs and parts that can be observed using no more than a handheld magnify ...

glabrous Glabrousness (from the Latin '' glaber'' meaning "bald", "hairless", "shaved", "smooth") is the technical term for a lack of hair, down, setae, trichomes or other such covering. A glabrous surface may be a natural characteristic of all or part of ...

plants. They are mostly blackened when they are dry. Their stems are 5–40 cm in length and they have 4-alate leaves. Ovate leaves 7–25 mm in length and 3–16 mm wide, with a crenate edge; petiolate. Solitary axillary flowers, pedicles 8-20 (-26) mm in length, basally bibracteolate; 5-lobed calyx, with unequal lobes, more or less free to the base, imbricate, the adaxial lobe widely lanceate to ovate, 5-9.5 mm long and 3–6 mm wide, slightly accrescent, the 2 middle lobes longer and overlapping, the 2 abaxial lobes nearly the same size as the adaxial and overlapping the middle lobes; 5-lobed corolla, 7–8 mm long, yellow with purple at the throat, bearded at the mouth; 4 fertile stamens. Ovoid fruit capsule, 5–7 mm long, loculicidal; ovoid, reticulated seeds.

Taxonomy

The genus was described by

Ruiz The Spanish surname Ruiz originates from the Germanic personal name " Hrodric" which is composed of the elements "Hrōd", meaning "renown", and "rīc", meaning "power(ful)", thus "famous ruler". Ruiz is a patronymic from the personal name Ruy, a sh ...

& Pav., published in ''Florae Peruvianae, et Chilensis Prodromus'' 95. 1794. Forzza, R. C. et al. 2010. 2010 Lista de espécies Flora do Brasil.
The type species is:

Mecardonia procumbens ''Mecardonia procumbens'' (also known as yellow-flowered waterhyssop ), common name baby jump-up, is an annual or perennial herb native to tropical and subtropical regions of the Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively c ...

Ruiz & Pav. The genus is named after Antonio Meca y Cardona, who founded the

botanical gardens A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

, in 1784. D. Miguel Colmeiro (1858). Mecardonia. La Botánica y los botánicos de la Península Hispano-Lusitana- Estudios Bibliográficoa y Biográficos. Madrid:Imprenta Rivadeneyra.
/ref> Rossow (1987) in his taxonomic revision of the genus, recognized ten species. A new species, ''M kamogawae'', was identified in Argentina by Greppi and Hagiwara (2011).

Cultivation

Sold as an ornamental garden flower, such as ''Mecardonia Magic Carpet Yellow'', as annuals in colder areas.

Species

* '' Mecardonia acuminata'' (Walter) Small. ** ''Mecardonia acuminata acuminata'' ** ''Mecardonia acuminata peninsularis'' ** ''Mecardonia acuminata microphylla''. * '' Mecardonia berroi'' Marchesi * '' Mecardonia caespitosa'' (Cham.) Pennell * '' Mecardonia exilis'' (Brandegee) Pennell * '' Mecardonia flagellaris'' (Cham. & Schltdl.) Rossow * '' Mecardonia grandiflora'' (Benth.) Pennell * '' Mecardonia herniarioides'' (Cham.) Pennell * ''

'' (Mill.) Small * '' Mecardonia pubescens'' Rossow * '' Mecardonia serpylloides'' (Cham. & Schltdl.) Pennell * '' Mecardonia tenella'' (Cham. & Schltdl.) Pennell

References

Sources

* Rossow, R. A. 1987. Revisión del género Mecardonia (Scrophulariaceae). Candollea 42: 431-474.
Cappellari, S. C., Harter-Marques, B., Aumeier, P. and Engels, W. (2009), Mecardonia tenella (Plantaginaceae) Attracts Oil-, Perfume-, and Pollen-Gathering Bees in Southern Brazil. Biotropica, 41: 721–729. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-7429.2009.00529.x

Krishne Gowda, M Magaraj. Embryological studies in Mecardonia procumbens (Miller) small. Proceedings: Plant Sciences February 1983, Volume 92, Issue 1, pp 5-18

Kaul, M. L. H. Cytogenetical Studies on Ecological Races of Mecardonia dianthera (SW) Pennell. Cytologia 34.2 (1969): 178-187.

Julián A. Greppi, Juan C. Hagiwara. UNA NUEVA ESPECIE DE MECARDONIA (PLANTAGINACEAE). Darwiniana Vol 49, No 1 (2011) p. 43
* Barringer, K. & W. Burger. 2000. Family 193. Scrophulariaceae. In: W. Burger (ed.), Flora Costaricensis. Fieldiana: Botany, n.s. 41: 1–69. * Nelson, C. H. 2008. Cat. Pl. Vasc. Honduras 1–1576. * Stevens, W. D., C. Ulloa Ulloa, A. Pool & O. M. Montiel Jarquin. 2001. Flora de Nicaragua. Monogr. Syst. Bot. Missouri Bot. Gard. 85: i–xlii,.
Tropicos: Mecardonia

External links

Galapagos Species Checklist: Mecardonia procumbens

PPP-Index
Search for Mecardonia. {{Taxonbar, from=Q9030962 Plantaginaceae genera Plantaginaceae Flora of Chile Flora of Brazil Flora of Argentina Flora of the Galápagos Islands Flora of Florida Flora of Alabama Flora of Virginia