''Stegnosperma'' 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, consisting of three species of woody plants, native to the

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

Central America Central America ( es, América Central or ) is a subregion of the Americas. Its boundaries are defined as bordering the United States to the north, Colombia to the south, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. ...

, and the

Sonoran Desert The Sonoran Desert ( es, Desierto de Sonora) is a desert in North America and ecoregion that covers the northwestern Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur, as well as part of the southwestern United States (in Arizona ...

. These are

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

s or

liana A liana is a long- stemmed, woody vine that is rooted in the soil at ground level and uses trees, as well as other means of vertical support, to climb up to the canopy in search of direct sunlight. The word ''liana'' does not refer to a ta ...

s, with anomalous secondary thickening in mature stems, by successive

cambia Cambia is an Australian-based global non-profit social enterprise focusing on open science, biology, innovation system reform and intellectual property. Its projects include The Lens, formerly known as Patent Lens, and the Biological Innova ...

. Leaves are alternate, entire, 2–5 cm in length, tapering at both ends. Flowers are small (5–8 mm), five-merous, with white petal-like

sepal A sepal () is a part of the flower of angiosperms (flowering plants). Usually green, sepals typically function as protection for the flower in bud, and often as support for the petals when in bloom., p. 106 The term ''sepalum'' was coined b ...

s, and a superior

ovary The ovary is an organ in the female reproductive system that produces an ovum. When released, this travels down the fallopian tube into the uterus, where it may become fertilized by a sperm. There is an ovary () found on each side of the body. ...

. They are arranged in short

raceme A raceme ( or ) or racemoid is an unbranched, indeterminate type of inflorescence bearing flowers having short floral stalks along the shoots that bear the flowers. The oldest flowers grow close to the base and new flowers are produced as the s ...

s, usually no more than 10 cm long, shorter in ''S. watsonii''. The fruit is a capsule 5–8 mm in diameter: it contains small (2–3 mm) black seeds with a conspicuous reddish aril. The genus has commonly been treated as belonging to the family

Phytolaccaceae Phytolaccaceae is a family (biology), family of flowering plants. Though almost universally recognized by Taxonomy (biology), taxonomists, its circumscription has varied. It is also known as the Pokeweed family. The APG II system, of 2003 (unch ...

, but the

APG system The APG system (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system) of plant classification is the first version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy. Published in 1998 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group, it was replaced by the improved AP ...

and

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 ...

, of 2003, regard it as the sole genus of its own family, the Stegnospermataceae and assign it to the order

Caryophyllales Caryophyllales ( ) is a diverse and heterogeneous order of flowering plants that includes the cacti, carnations, amaranths, ice plants, beets, and many carnivorous plants. Many members are succulent, having fleshy stems or leaves. The betalai ...

in the clade

core eudicots The eudicots, Eudicotidae, or eudicotyledons are a clade of flowering plants mainly characterized by having two seed leaves upon germination. The term derives from Dicotyledons. Traditionally they were called tricolpates or non-magnoliid dicots ...

Turner et al. suggest that ''S. halimifolium'' Bentham and ''S. watsonii'' D.J. Rogers are actually the same species, observing that specimens from the gulf coast of

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...

have intermediate characteristics. Whether one species or two, they are locally common all along the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja Ca ...

, where they are found on the coastal strand and some inland washes, always at low elevations (less than 600 m).

Anatomy

Stem and root anatomy was originally thought to be normal, but this was due to the small diameter of herbarium specimens examined by early researchers. Anomalous secondary thickening by successive cambia has been described in detail within mature stems and roots.

Uses

In traditional medicine, curanderas use an extract of the root as a part of the treatment for rabies due to its emetic properties. Jiménez-Estrada et al. Manuel Jiménez-Estrada, Carlos Velázquez-Contreras, Adriana Garibay-Escobar, Davisela Sierras-Canchola, Ricardo Lapizco-Vázquez, Carolina Ortiz-Sandoval, Armando Burgos-Hernández and Ramón Enrique Robles-Zepeda. ''In vitro antioxidant and antiproliferative activities of plants of the ethnopharmacopeia from northwest of Mexico''. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2013, 13:12. https://bmccomplementalternmed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1472-6882-13-12 list ''Stegnosperma'' extract for treatment of headache, snakebite, and rabies. They provide an analysis of the antioxidant and antiproliferative activity of ''S. halimifolium''.

References

* Raymond M. Turner, Janice E. Bowers, and Tony L. Burgess, ''Sonoran Desert Plants: an Ecological Atlas'' (Tucson: The University of Arizona Press, 1995) pp. 373–375

External links

Stegnospermataceae
in L. Watson and M.J. Dallwitz (1992 onwards).
The families of flowering plants
descriptions, illustrations, identification, information retrieval.'' Version: 30 May 2006. http://delta-intkey.com
NCBI Taxonomy Browser
{{Taxonbar, from=Q144400 Caryophyllales Caryophyllales genera Taxa named by Takenoshin Nakai