''Medusandra'' 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 Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

Peridiscaceae Peridiscaceae is a family of flowering plants in the order Saxifragales.Peter F. Stevens. 2001 onwards. "Peridiscaceae". At: Angiosperm Phylogeny Website At: Missouri Botanical Garden Website. (see ''External links'' below). Four genera comprise ...

."Peridiscaceae" At: Peter F. Stevens (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. At: Missouri Botanical Garden Website. (see external links below) It has two

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 ...

, '' Medusandra richardsiana'' and '' Medusandra mpomiana''."Medusandra" At: International Plant Names Index. (see ''External links'' below). ''M. richardsiana'' is the most common and well known. Both species are

native Native may refer to: People * Jus soli, citizenship by right of birth * Indigenous peoples, peoples with a set of specific rights based on their historical ties to a particular territory ** Native Americans (disambiguation) In arts and entert ...

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

and adjacent countries.Vernon H. Heywood, Richard K. Brummitt, Ole Seberg, and Alastair Culham. ''Flowering Plant Families of the World''. Firefly Books: Ontario, Canada. (2007). ''Medusandra'' was named by John Brenan in 1952.John P.M. Brenan. 1952. "Plants of the Cambridge Expedition, 1947-1948: II. A new order of flowering plants from the British Cameroons". ''Kew Bulletin'' 7:227-236. Brenan put ''Medusandra'' in its own family, Medusandraceae, and added ''

Soyauxia ''Soyauxia'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Peridiscaceae.Clemens Bayer. 2007. "Peridiscaceae" pages 297-300. In: Klaus Kubitski (editor). ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' volume IX. Springer-Verlag: Berlin;Heidelberg ...

'' to that family in 1953.John P.M. Brenan. 1953. "''Soyauxia'', a second genus of Medusandraceae". ''Kew Bulletin'' 8:507-511. Most authors, however, maintained Medusandraceae as a

monogeneric 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 ...

family and put ''Soyauxia'' elsewhere.John Hutchinson. ''The Families of Flowering Plants, Third Edition (1973)''. Oxford University Press: London.Arthur John Cronquist. 1981. ''An Integrated System of Classification of Flowering Plants''. Columbia University Press: New York, NY, USA. A detailed description of ''Medusandra'' was published by John Hutchinson in 1973. When the

APG II system The APG II system (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II system) of plant classification is the second, now obsolete, version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy that was published in April 2003 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Gro ...

was published by the

Angiosperm Phylogeny Group The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) is an informal international group of systematic botanists who collaborate to establish a consensus on the taxonomy of flowering plants (angiosperms) that reflects new knowledge about plant relationships disco ...

in 2003, ''Medusandra'' and ''Soyauxia'' were listed in an appendix as "taxa of uncertain position".The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. 2003. "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG II". ''Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society'' 141(4):399-436. (see ''External links'' below). The first

molecular phylogenetic Molecular phylogenetics () is the branch of phylogeny that analyzes genetic, hereditary molecular differences, predominantly in DNA sequences, to gain information on an organism's evolutionary relationships. From these analyses, it is possible to ...

study Study or studies may refer to: General * Education **Higher education * Clinical trial * Experiment * Observational study * Research * Study skills, abilities and approaches applied to learning Other * Study (art), a drawing or series of drawi ...

to include ''Medusandra'' appeared in 2009.Kenneth J. Wurdack and Charles C. Davis. 2009. "Malpighiales phylogenetics: Gaining ground on one of the most recalcitrant clades in the angiosperm tree of life." ''American Journal of Botany'' 96(8):1551-1570. It showed that ''Medusandra'' is

sister A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

to a

clade A clade (), also known as a monophyletic group or natural group, is a group of organisms that are monophyletic – that is, composed of a common ancestor and all its lineal descendants – on a phylogenetic tree. Rather than the English term, ...

consisting of ''Soyauxia'', ''Peridiscus'', and by implication, ''Whittonia''. These three genera are in Peridiscaceae,Clemens Bayer. 2007. "Peridiscaceae" pages 297-300. In: Klaus Kubitski (editor). ''The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants'' volume IX. Springer-Verlag: Berlin;Heidelberg, Germany. and the authors, Kenneth Wurdack and Charles Davis, recommended that ''Medusandra'' be added to Peridiscaceae. When the

APG III system The APG III system of flowering plant classification is the third version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy being developed by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG). Published in 2009, it was superseded in 2016 by a fur ...

was published in October 2009, Peridiscaceae was expanded to include ''Medusandra'' and ''Soyauxia''.Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. 2009. "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III". ''Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society'' 161(2):105-121. (see ''External links'' below).

References

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