''Rehmannia'' is a genus of seven species 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 in the order

Lamiales The order Lamiales (also known as the mint order) are an order in the asterid group of dicotyledonous flowering plants. It includes about 23,810 species, 1,059 genera, and is divided into about 25 families. These families include Acanthaceae, Bi ...

and family

Orobanchaceae Orobanchaceae, the broomrapes, is a family of mostly parasitic plants of the order Lamiales, with about 90 genera and more than 2000 species. Many of these genera (e.g., ''Pedicularis'', ''Rhinanthus'', ''Striga'') were formerly included in the ...

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 ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. It has been placed as the only member of the

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 "unispec ...

tribe Rehmannieae, but molecular phylogenetic studies suggest that it forms a clade with ''

Triaenophora ''Triaenophora'' is a genus of flowering plants native to Temperate Asia. Its family placement is not fully settled, : it may be placed in Orobanchaceae or Plantaginaceae. Taxonomy The genus ''Triaenophora'' was first erected by Hans Solereder ...

''. Contrary to the immense majority of the taxa of Orobanchaceae, ''Rehmannia'' is not parasitic.

Systematics

Etymology

''Rehmannia'' is named for Joseph Rehmann (1788–1831), a physician in

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

.Gledhill, David (2008). "The Names of Plants". Cambridge University Press. (hardback), (paperback). pp 328

Homonymy

The name "Rehmannia" has also been given to 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 ...

Jurassic The Jurassic ( ) is a Geological period, geologic period and System (stratigraphy), stratigraphic system that spanned from the end of the Triassic Period million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Cretaceous Period, approximately Mya. The J ...

ammonite Ammonoids are a group of extinct marine mollusc animals in the subclass Ammonoidea of the class Cephalopoda. These molluscs, commonly referred to as ammonites, are more closely related to living coleoids (i.e., octopuses, squid and cuttlefish) ...

s of the family Reineckeidae.

Classification

The genus was included in the family

Scrophulariaceae The Scrophulariaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the figwort family. The plants are annual and perennial herbs, as well as shrubs. Flowers have bilateral (zygomorphic) or rarely radial (actinomorphic) symmetry. The Scr ...

Gesneriaceae Gesneriaceae, the gesneriad family, is a family of flowering plants consisting of about 152 genera and ca. 3,540 species in the tropics and subtropics of the Old World (almost all Didymocarpoideae) and the New World (most Gesnerioideae), with ...

in some older classifications. The current placement of the genus is in neither Scrophulariaceae s.s. nor

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 ...

s.l. (to which many other former Scrophulariaceae have been transferred). Earlier molecular studies suggested that its closest relatives were the genera '' Lancea'' and ''

Mazus ''Mazus'' is a genus of low-growing perennial plants. It has been placed in various plant families including Phrymaceae, Scrophulariaceae, and recently in the family Mazaceae. page 47 Consisting of around 30 species, this genus is generally foun ...

'', which have been included in

Phrymaceae Phrymaceae, also known as the lopseed family, is a small family of flowering plants in the order Lamiales.Peter F. Stevens (2001 onwards). "Phrymaceae" At: Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. At: Botanical Databases At: Missouri Botanical Garden Websi ...

. Subsequently, it was found that ''Rehmannia'' groups with ''

'', and both taxa are jointly the sister group to ''

Lindenbergia ''Lindenbergia'' is a genus of herbaceous plants in the order Lamiales and in the broomrape family Orobanchaceae. It is one of the few genera of the family which are not parasitic. It contains about 15 species found from northeast Africa across A ...

'' and the parasitic Orobanchaceae. A 2016 classification of flowering plants, the

APG IV system 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 ...

enlarged Orobanchaceae to include ''Rehmannia'', making it one of the few genera in the family, along with ''Lindenbergia'', not to be parasitic.

Species list

Plants of the World Online Plants of the World Online (POWO) is an online database published by the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. It was launched in March 2017 with the ultimate aim being "to enable users to access information on all the world's known seed-bearing plants by ...

accepted six species: *''

Rehmannia chingii ''Rehmannia'' is a genus of seven species of flowering plants in the order Lamiales and family Orobanchaceae, endemic to China. It has been placed as the only member of the monotypic tribe Rehmannieae, but molecular phylogenetic studies suggest t ...

'' H.L.Li *''

Rehmannia chrysantha ''Rehmannia'' is a genus of seven species of flowering plants in the order Lamiales and family Orobanchaceae, endemic to China. It has been placed as the only member of the monotypic tribe Rehmannieae, but molecular phylogenetic studies suggest t ...

'' M.H.Li & C.H.Zhang *''

Rehmannia glutinosa ''Rehmannia glutinosa'' is one of the 50 fundamental herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, where it has the name ''shēng dì huáng'' (). It is often sold as ''gān dì huáng'' (), ''gān'' meaning "dried". Chemical constituents A number ...

'' (Gaertn.) DC. *''

Rehmannia henryi ''Rehmannia'' is a genus of seven species of flowering plants in the order Lamiales and family Orobanchaceae, endemic to China. It has been placed as the only member of the monotypic tribe Rehmannieae, but molecular phylogenetic studies suggest t ...

'' N.E.Br. *''

Rehmannia japonica ''Rehmannia'' is a genus of seven species of flowering plants in the order Lamiales and family Orobanchaceae, endemic to China. It has been placed as the only member of the monotypic tribe Rehmannieae, but molecular phylogenetic studies suggest t ...

'' (Thunb.) Makino *''

Rehmannia piasezkii ''Rehmannia'' is a genus of seven species of flowering plants in the order Lamiales and family Orobanchaceae, endemic to China. It has been placed as the only member of the monotypic tribe Rehmannieae, but molecular phylogenetic studies suggest t ...

'' Maxim. *''

Rehmannia solanifolia ''Rehmannia'' is a genus of seven species of flowering plants in the order Lamiales and family Orobanchaceae, endemic (ecology), endemic to China. It has been placed as the only member of the monotypic tribe Rehmannieae, but molecular phylogeneti ...

'' P.C.Tsoong & T.L.Chin

Uses

Sometimes known as Chinese foxglove due to its superficial resemblance to the genus ''

Digitalis ''Digitalis'' ( or ) is a genus of about 20 species of herbaceous perennial plants, shrubs, and biennials, commonly called foxgloves. ''Digitalis'' is native to Europe, western Asia, and northwestern Africa. The flowers are tubular in sha ...

'', the species of ''Rehmannia'' are perennial herbs. The plants have large flowers and are grown as ornamental garden plants in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

, and are used medicinally in Asia.

Traditional Chinese medicine

Known as dìhuáng (

地 ''Di'' () is one of the oldest Chinese terms for the earth and a key concept or figure in Chinese philosophy and Chinese folk religion, religion, being one of three powers (', ) which are Tian, Heaven, Earth, and Humanity (, ), a phrase which ori ...

黄) or gān dìhuáng ( 干

黄) in

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

, ''R. glutinosa'' is used as a medicinal herb for many conditions within Chinese traditional formulations. It is the main ingredient in a mixture called si wu tang (four substance decoction) along with Dang gui, Chinese peony (bai shao yao), and

Ligusticum striatum ''Ligusticum striatum'' (syn. ''L. wallichii'') is a flowering plant native to India, Kashmir, and Nepal in the carrot family best known for its use in traditional Chinese medicine where it is considered one of the 50 fundamental herbs. It is k ...

(chuan xiong) that is considered a fundamental medicine to support making blood. When two ingredients,

peach The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-fu ...

(tao ren) and

safflower Safflower (''Carthamus tinctorius'') is a highly branched, herbaceous, thistle-like annual plant in the family Asteraceae. It is commercially cultivated for vegetable oil extracted from the seeds and was used by the early Spanish colonies along ...

(hong hua), are added, it is called tao hong si wu tang (four substance decoction with peach pit and safflower), which is used in TCM for fatigue.

Chemical constituents

''Rehmannia'' contains the vitamins A, B, C, and D, as well as other compounds, such as

catalpol Catalpol is an iridoid glucoside. This natural product falls in the class of iridoid glycosides, which are simply monoterpenes with a glucose molecule attached. Natural occurrence First isolated in 1962, catalpol was named for plants in the ge ...

, an

iridoid Iridoids are a type of monoterpenoids in the general form of cyclopentanopyran, found in a wide variety of plants and some animals. They are biosynthetically derived from 8-oxogeranial. Iridoids are typically found in plants as glycosides, mos ...

glycoside In chemistry, a glycoside is a molecule in which a sugar is bound to another functional group via a glycosidic bond. Glycosides play numerous important roles in living organisms. Many plants store chemicals in the form of inactive glycosides. ...

References

External links

{{Taxonbar, from=Q3313262 Medicinal plants of Asia Dietary supplements Plants used in traditional Chinese medicine Orobanchaceae genera