''Polycarpaea'' is a genus of
plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclud ...
s in the family
Caryophyllaceae
Caryophyllaceae, commonly called the pink family or carnation family, is a family of flowering plants. It is included in the dicotyledon order Caryophyllales in the APG III system, alongside 33 other families, including Amaranthaceae, Cactacea ...
. The genus was named by
Jean-Baptiste Lamarck
Jean-Baptiste Pierre Antoine de Monet, chevalier de Lamarck (1 August 1744 – 18 December 1829), often known simply as Lamarck (; ), was a French naturalist, biologist, academic, and soldier. He was an early proponent of the idea that biologi ...
in 1792.
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 ...
analysis showed that the genus is
polyphyletic and needs to be redefined. It falls into three distinct
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, ...
s. One of these, a group of species related to ''P. corymbosa'', has acquired the
photosynthetic pathway.
[ ]
Selected species
It contains the following species (but this list may be incomplete):
* ''
Polycarpaea akkensis''
Maire.
* ''
Polycarpaea aristata''
Chr.Sm.
* ''
Polycarpaea balfourii''
Briq.
* ''
Polycarpaea caespitosa''
Balf.f.
Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour, KBE, FRS, FRSE (31 March 1853 – 30 November 1922) was a Scottish botanist. He was Regius Professor of Botany at the University of Glasgow from 1879 to 1885, Sherardian Professor of Botany at the University of Oxf ...
* ''
Polycarpaea carnosa''
Chr.Sm.
* ''
Polycarpaea clavifolia''
M.Gilbert.
* ''
Polycarpaea corymbosa''
(L.) Lam.
* ''
Polycarpaea divaricata
''Polycarpaea'' is a genus of plants in the family Caryophyllaceae. The genus was named by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1792.
Molecular phylogenetic analysis showed that the genus is polyphyletic and needs to be redefined. It falls into three di ...
''
Aiton.
* ''
Polycarpaea filifolia
''Polycarpaea'' is a genus of plants in the family Caryophyllaceae. The genus was named by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1792.
Molecular phylogenetic analysis showed that the genus is polyphyletic and needs to be redefined. It falls into three di ...
''
Webb ex Christ.
* ''
Polycarpaea gaudichaudii
''Polycarpaea'' is a genus of plants in the family Caryophyllaceae. The genus was named by Jean-Baptiste Lamarck in 1792.
Molecular phylogenetic analysis showed that the genus is polyphyletic and needs to be redefined. It falls into three dis ...
''
Gagnepain.
* ''
Polycarpaea gayi''
Webb.
* ''
Polycarpaea guardafuiensis''
M.Gilbert.
* ''
Polycarpaea hassalensis''
D.F.Chamb.
* ''
Polycarpaea hayoides''
D.F.Chamb.
* ''
Polycarpaea kuriensis''
Wagner
* ''
Polycarpaea latifolia''
Poiret.
* ''
Polycarpaea nivea''
Aiton.
* ''
Polycarpaea paulayana''
Wagner
* ''
Polycarpaea pulvinata''
M.Gilbert.
* ''
Polycarpaea repens''
(Forsskal) Ascherson & Schweinf.
* ''
Polycarpaea robbairea''
(Kunze) Greuter & Burdet.
* ''
Polycarpaea smithii''
Link.
* ''
Polycarpaea somalensis''
Engl.
* ''
Polycarpaea spicata''
Wight
A wight (Old English: ''wiht'') is a mythical sentient being, often undead.
In its original use the word ''wight'' described a living human being, but has come to be used in fictional works in the fantasy genre to describe certain immortal bein ...
ex Arn.
* ''
Polycarpaea tenuis''
Webb ex Christ.
* ''
Polycarpaea ventiversa''
M.Gilbert.
References
Caryophyllaceae genera
Taxonomy articles created by Polbot
{{Caryophyllaceae-stub