''Philippiella'' 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 "unispe ...

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

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 just contains one species, ''Philippiella patagonica'' Speg.

Description

It is a sub-shrub, or small shrub.Klaus Kubitzki, Jens G. Rohwer and Volker Bittrich (Editors) It is cushion forming, and dioecious (having male and female reproductive structures which develop only on different plants). It has dense, imbricate (tiled) and slightly fleshy leaves. Which are arranged in opposite pairs, linear to obovate in shape, rigid and about 1.5 mm long. It blooms in spring, with solitary, terminal (at the ends of branches) flowers. They are perigynous (borne around the ovary) and subsessile (not completely

sessile Sessility, or sessile, may refer to: * Sessility (motility), organisms which are not able to move about * Sessility (botany), flowers or leaves that grow directly from the stem or peduncle of a plant * Sessility (medicine), tumors and polyps that ...

, a plant stalk). They are about wide and greenish yellow in colour. They have 4 sepals, which are carnose (fleshy), with ciliate (having small hairs) margins. They also have 4 petals, which are filiform (thread-like in shape), and it has 4 stamens which are episepalous (attached to the sepals). The anthers are monothecous (having a sole compartment or cell) and the ovary is 1 celled (uniovulate). The

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

has 2 clefts, The fruit (or seed capsule)

dehiscing Dehiscence is the splitting of a mature plant structure along a built-in line of weakness to release its contents. This is common among fruits, anthers and sporangia. Sometimes this involves the complete detachment of a part; structures that o ...

irregularly at base. Inside the seeds are ellipsoid and compressed.

Taxonomy

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

Rodolfo Amando Philippi Rodolfo Amando (or Rudolph Amandus) Philippi (14 September 1808 – 23 July 1904) was a German–Chilean paleontologist and zoologist. Philippi contributed primarily to malacology and paleontology. His grandson, Rodulfo Amando Philippi Bañados ( ...

(1808–1904), a German–Chilean

paleontologist Paleontology (), also spelled palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of life that existed prior to, and sometimes including, the start of the Holocene epoch (roughly 11,700 years before present). It includes the study of fossi ...

and

zoologist Zoology ()The pronunciation of zoology as is usually regarded as nonstandard, though it is not uncommon. is the branch of biology that studies the animal kingdom, including the structure, embryology, evolution, classification, habits, and d ...

. The Latin specific epithet of ''patagonica'' refers to coming from

Patagonia Patagonia () refers to a geographical region that encompasses the southern end of South America, governed by Argentina and Chile. The region comprises the southern section of the Andes Mountains with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and g ...

region. Both the genus and the species were first described and published in Revista Fac. Agron. Univ. Nac. La Plata vol.3 on page 566 in 1897. The species is recognised by the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nor ...

(RHS), it is also recognised by

United States Department of Agriculture The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of com ...

and the Agricultural Research Service, but they do not list any known species.

Distribution and habitat

It is native to southern

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the east a ...

.Andres Moreira-Munoz It grows on cold steppes, at altitudes of above sea level.

Cultivation

It can be grown in a sunny, open site in poor, sandy soil or within an

alpine house A greenhouse (also called a glasshouse, or, if with sufficient heating, a hothouse) is a structure with walls and roof made chiefly of transparent material, such as glass, in which plants requiring regulated climatic conditions are grown.These s ...

. New plants can be grown from seed in spring, in trays or pots with a thin layer of compost over the seed. Germination will take 1-3 months. Also

propagation Propagation can refer to: * Chain propagation in a chemical reaction mechanism *Crack propagation, the growth of a crack during the fracture of materials * Propaganda, non-objective information used to further an agenda * Reproduction, and other fo ...

by cuttings in late summer, also works.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q15941273, from2=Q10349164 Caryophyllaceae Plants described in 1897 Flora of South Argentina Flora of Chile