''Zuelania guidonia'' is a

species In biology, a species is the basic unit of classification and a taxonomic rank of an organism, as well as a unit of biodiversity. A species is often defined as the largest group of organisms in which any two individuals of the appropriate s ...

of shrub or tree native to the

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

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 northern

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

and is the only member of the

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 ...

''Zuelania''. Formerly classified in the Flacourtiaceae,

phylogenetic In biology, phylogenetics (; from Greek φυλή/ φῦλον [] "tribe, clan, race", and wikt:γενετικός, γενετικός [] "origin, source, birth") is the study of the evolutionary history and relationships among or within groups o ...

analyses based on DNA data indicate that this species, along with its close relatives in '' Casearia'', ''

Samyda ''Samyda'' is a genus of plants in family Salicaceae.Tropicos
1. September 2018 There are 11 species, chiefly shrubs of the ...

'', ''

Hecatostemon ''Hecatostemon completus'' is a species of shrub or tree native to northeastern South America and is the only member of the genus ''Hecatostemon''. Taxonomy Formerly classified in the Flacourtiaceae, phylogenetic analyses based on DNA data indic ...

'', and ''

Laetia ''Laetia'' is a genus of plants in the family Salicaceae (formerly placed in Flacourtiaceae The Flacourtiaceae is a defunct family of flowering plants whose former members have been scattered to various families, mostly to the Achariaceae and S ...

'', are better placed in a broadly circumscribed Salicaceae. ''Zuelania'' differs from its close relatives in having a large, subsessile stigma.

References

Salicaceae Monotypic Malpighiales genera Salicaceae genera {{Salicaceae-stub