''Volkensinia'' is a

monotypic genus 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 ...

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

Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae is a family of flowering plants commonly known as the amaranth family, in reference to its type genus ''Amaranthus''. It includes the former goosefoot family Chenopodiaceae and contains about 165 genera and 2,040 species, making it ...

. It only contains one known species; ''Volkensinia prostrata''. It is in the subfamily

Amaranthoideae The Amaranthoideae are a subfamily of the Amaranthaceae. The stamens have anthers with two lobes (locules) and four pollen sacs. The main distribution of the subfamily is in tropical Americas, America, in Tropical Africa, tropical and Southern A ...

. Its native range is north eastern and eastern

Tropical Africa Although tropical Africa is mostly familiar to the West for its rainforests, this biogeographic realm of Africa is far more diverse. While the tropics are thought of as regions with hot moist climates, which are caused by latitude and the tropi ...

, it is found in Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan and Tanzania. The genus name of ''Volkensinia'' is in honour of

Georg Volkens Georg Ludwig August Volkens (13 July 1855 – 10 January 1917) was a German botanist born in Berlin. He studied natural sciences at the Universities of University of Berlin, Berlin and University of Würzburg, Würzburg, graduating in 1882 with t ...

(1855–1917), a German botanist born in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. The Latin

specific epithet In taxonomy, binomial nomenclature ("two-term naming system"), also called nomenclature ("two-name naming system") or binary nomenclature, is a formal system of naming species of living things by giving each a name composed of two parts, bot ...

of ''prostrata'' means on the ground as derived from ''prostrate''. Both the genus and the sole species were first described and published in Vierteljahrsschr. Naturf. Ges. Zürich Vol.57 on page 535 in 1912.

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q6164688, from2=Q17250863 Amaranthaceae Amaranthaceae genera Plants described in 1912 Flora of Ethiopia Flora of Kenya Flora of Sudan Flora of Tanzania Monotypic Caryophyllales genera