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 ...
by or
herbaceous
Herbaceous plants are vascular plants that have no persistent woody stems above ground. This broad category of plants includes many perennials, and nearly all annuals and biennials.
Definitions of "herb" and "herbaceous"
The fourth edition of t ...
, the tallest being around . The leaves are opposite, or sometimes borne on short shoots and then appearing to be alternate. They may or may not have stalks ( petioles). The flower usually has five
petal
Petals are modified Leaf, leaves that surround the reproductive parts of flowers. They are often advertising coloration, brightly colored or unusually shaped to attract pollinators. All of the petals of a flower are collectively known as the ''c ...
stamen
The stamen (plural ''stamina'' or ''stamens'') is the pollen-producing reproductive organ of a flower. Collectively the stamens form the androecium., p. 10
Morphology and terminology
A stamen typically consists of a stalk called the filame ...
s. The flower is usually tube-like in appearance with white to pale orange petals. The
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. ...
has three to five chambers (
locule
A locule (plural locules) or loculus (plural loculi) (meaning "little place" in Latin) is a small cavity or compartment within an organ or part of an organism (animal, plant, or fungus).
In angiosperms (flowering plants), the term ''locule'' usu ...
s). The ripe fruit is variable in shape, splitting into parts before releasing the seeds.
Taxonomy
The genus ''Tetraena'' was erected by Karl Maximovich in 1889 for the species ''
Tetraena mongolica
''Tetraena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae.
Description
Species of ''Tetraena'' are shrubby or herbaceous, the tallest being around . The leaves are opposite, or sometimes borne on short shoots and then appearin ...
''. Until 2003, this was the only species recognized in the genus.
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 ...
studies suggested that the genus '' Zygophyllum'' was not
monophyletic
In cladistics for a group of organisms, monophyly is the condition of being a clade—that is, a group of taxa composed only of a common ancestor (or more precisely an ancestral population) and all of its lineal descendants. Monophyletic gro ...
, since ''Tetraena'' and some other genera were nested within it. To create monophyletic genera, Björn-Axel Beier and Mats Thulin transferred about 40 species of ''Zygophyllum'' to ''Tetraena'', creating a much expanded genus, though IPNI still treats it as a synonym of Zygophyllum.
Species
,
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 the following species:
*''
Tetraena aegyptia
''Tetraena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae.
Description
Species of ''Tetraena'' are shrubby or herbaceous, the tallest being around . The leaves are opposite, or sometimes borne on short shoots and then appearin ...
'' (Hosny) Beier & Thulin
*''
Tetraena alba
''Tetraena alba'' (synonym ''Zygophyllum album'') is a species of plant in the family Zygophyllaceae which is found in arid regions of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It is a salt tolerant plant and dominates many of the plant communities in wh ...
'' (L.f.) Beier & Thulin
*''
Tetraena applanata
''Tetraena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae.
Description
Species of ''Tetraena'' are shrubby or herbaceous, the tallest being around . The leaves are opposite, or sometimes borne on short shoots and then appearin ...
'' (Van Zyl) Beier & Thulin
*''
Tetraena bucharica
''Tetraena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae.
Description
Species of ''Tetraena'' are shrubby or herbaceous, the tallest being around . The leaves are opposite, or sometimes borne on short shoots and then appearin ...
'' (B.Fedtsch.) Beier & Thulin
*''
Tetraena chrysopteros
''Tetraena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae.
Description
Species of ''Tetraena'' are shrubby or herbaceous, the tallest being around . The leaves are opposite, or sometimes borne on short shoots and then appearin ...
'' (Retief) Beier & Thulin
*''
Tetraena clavata
''Tetraena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae.
Description
Species of ''Tetraena'' are shrubby or herbaceous, the tallest being around . The leaves are opposite, or sometimes borne on short shoots and then appearing to ...
'' (Schltr. & Diels) Beier & Thulin
*''
Tetraena coccinea
''Tetraena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae.
Description
Species of ''Tetraena'' are shrubby or herbaceous, the tallest being around . The leaves are opposite, or sometimes borne on short shoots and then appearin ...
'' (L.) Beier & Thulin
*''
Tetraena cornuta
''Tetraena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae.
Description
Species of ''Tetraena'' are shrubby or herbaceous, the tallest being around . The leaves are opposite, or sometimes borne on short shoots and then appearing to ...
'' (Coss.) Beier & Thulin
*''
Tetraena cylindrifolia
''Tetraena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae.
Description
Species of ''Tetraena'' are shrubby or herbaceous, the tallest being around . The leaves are opposite, or sometimes borne on short shoots and then appearing to ...
'' (Schinz) Beier & Thulin
*''
Tetraena decumbens
''Tetraena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae.
Description
Species of ''Tetraena'' are shrubby or herbaceous, the tallest being around . The leaves are opposite, or sometimes borne on short shoots and then appearin ...
'' (Delile) Beier & Thulin
*''
Tetraena dumosa
''Zygophyllum dumosum'' (syn. ''Tetraena dumosa''), the bushy bean-caper, is a species of flowering plant in the family Zygophyllaceae, native to Egypt, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Levant. It is a dominant shrub in the highlands of the Negev De ...
'' (Boiss.) Beier & Thulin
*''
Tetraena fontanesii
''Tetraena fontanesii'', synonym ''Zygophyllum fontanesii'', is a species of plant of the family Zygophyllaceae. It is found in Macaronesia and northwest Africa.
Description
This halophile and xerophile
A xerophile () is an extremophilic organi ...
'' (Webb & Berthel.) Beier & Thulin
*''
Tetraena gaetula
''Tetraena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae.
Description
Species of ''Tetraena'' are shrubby or herbaceous, the tallest being around . The leaves are opposite, or sometimes borne on short shoots and then appearin ...
'' (Emb. & Maire) Beier & Thulin
*''
Tetraena geslinii
''Tetraena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae.
Description
Species of ''Tetraena'' are shrubby or herbaceous, the tallest being around . The leaves are opposite, or sometimes borne on short shoots and then appearin ...
'' (Coss.) Beier & Thulin
*''
Tetraena giessii
''Tetraena giessii'', synonym ''Zygophyllum giessii'', is a species of plant in the family Zygophyllaceae. It is endemic to Namibia. Its natural habitats are rocky areas and cold desert
A desert is a barren area of landscape where l ...
Tetraena madecassa
''Tetraena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae.
Description
Species of ''Tetraena'' are shrubby or herbaceous, the tallest being around . The leaves are opposite, or sometimes borne on short shoots and then appearing to ...
Tetraena mongolica
''Tetraena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae.
Description
Species of ''Tetraena'' are shrubby or herbaceous, the tallest being around . The leaves are opposite, or sometimes borne on short shoots and then appearin ...
Tetraena propinqua
''Tetraena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae.
Description
Species of ''Tetraena'' are shrubby or herbaceous, the tallest being around . The leaves are opposite, or sometimes borne on short shoots and then appearin ...
Tetraena qatarensis
''Tetraena qatarensis'' is a salt-tolerant dwarf shrub that grows in the Arabian Peninsula. It has small compact leaves that store water. The leaflets grow in pairs and the flowers have four or five petals.
Description
''Tetraena qatarensis'' i ...
'' (Hadidi) Beier & Thulin
*''
Tetraena retrofracta
''Tetraena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae.
Description
Species of ''Tetraena'' are shrubby or herbaceous, the tallest being around . The leaves are opposite, or sometimes borne on short shoots and then appearin ...
'' (Thunb.) Beier & Thulin
*''
Tetraena rigida
''Tetraena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae.
Description
Species of ''Tetraena'' are shrubby or herbaceous, the tallest being around . The leaves are opposite, or sometimes borne on short shoots and then appearin ...
'' (Schinz) Beier & Thulin
*''
Tetraena simplex
''Tetraena simplex'', commonly known as hureim or simple-leaved bean caper, is a halophytic flowering plant that is distributed in arid regions of the Western Asia and Africa. It is an annual and has a history of being used in Arabic folk medi ...
Tetraena stapfii
''Tetraena stapfii'' (Afrikaans: ''daalderplant'', English: ''dollar bush'') is a species of flowering bush endemic to Namibia.
It grows in the Namib ecoregion along the Atlantic Ocean coast. Most of this plant's moisture comes from the morning ...
'' (Schinz) Beier & Thulin
*''
Tetraena tenuis
''Tetraena'' is a genus of flowering plants in the family Zygophyllaceae.
Description
Species of ''Tetraena'' are shrubby or herbaceous, the tallest being around . The leaves are opposite, or sometimes borne on short shoots and then appearin ...
'' (R.Glover) Beier & Thulin
Distribution
''Tetraena'' is native from the
Canary Islands
The Canary Islands (; es, Canarias, ), also known informally as the Canaries, are a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, in Macaronesia. At their closest point to the African mainland, they are west of Morocc ...
in the west and South Africa in the south to China in the east.