''Wightia'' is a genus 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 tentatively sister to the

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 ...

which currently contains only two species. It grows as a

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

, or a hemiepiphytic pseudo-

vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themselv ...

, up to tall. It is found in South Asia and South East Asia, from

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is bo ...

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

and China's

Yunnan Province Yunnan , () is a landlocked province in the southwest of the People's Republic of China. The province spans approximately and has a population of 48.3 million (as of 2018). The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders the C ...

, at altitudes below . There are still morphological characters as well as nuclear genome data to support ''Wightia'' as sister to ''

Paulownia ''Paulownia'' ( ) is a genus of seven to 17 species of hardwood tree (depending on taxonomic authority) in the family Paulowniaceae, the order Lamiales. They are present in much of China, south to northern Laos and Vietnam and are long cultivat ...

'' leading it to be of proposed hybrid origin from Phrymaceae and

Paulowniaceae Paulowniaceae are a family of flowering plants within the Lamiales. They are a monophyletic and monogeneric family of trees with currently 7 confirmed species. They were formerly placed within Scrophulariaceae ''sensu lato'', or as a segregate of ...

. Due to chloroplast and mitochondrial data showing ''Wightia'' as sister to Phrymaceae it is proposed that a new family Wightiaceae be recognized.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q5222145 Lamiales genera Flora of India (region) Flora of Nepal Flora of Thailand Flora of Vietnam Flora of Yunnan Paulowniaceae Taxa described in 1830 Taxa named by Nathaniel Wallich