''Diodia'' (or buttonweed) is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms as well as viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus comes above species and below family. In binomial nom ...

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 in the

family Family (from la, familia) is a group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its members and of society. Idea ...

Rubiaceae The Rubiaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the coffee, madder, or bedstraw family. It consists of terrestrial trees, shrubs, lianas, or herbs that are recognizable by simple, opposite leaves with interpetiolar stipules a ...

. It was described by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his Nobility#Ennoblement, ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné#Blunt, Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalise ...

in 1753. The genus is found from southern and eastern

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

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 sout ...

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. ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, 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 Greate ...

and tropical

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

.USDA Plants Database
/ref>

Other buttonweeds

Many species of ''Diodia'' have been transferred to a closely related genus '' Diodella'', and therefore the name buttonweed also applies to these species. There are also many species of false buttonweeds in the related genus ''

Spermacoce ''Spermacoce'' or false buttonweed is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. It comprises about 275 species found throughout the tropics and subtropics. Its highest diversity is found in the Americas, followed by Africa, Australia ...

''. ''

Abutilon theophrasti ''Abutilon theophrasti'' (velvetleaf, velvet plant, velvetweed, Chinese jute, China jute, crown weed, buttonweed, lantern mallow, butterprint, pie-marker, or Indian mallow) is an annual plant in the family Malvaceae, native to southern Asia. It ...

'' in the family

Malvaceae Malvaceae, or the mallows, is a family of flowering plants estimated to contain 244 genera with 4225 known species. Well-known members of economic importance include okra, cotton, cacao and durian. There are also some genera containing familiar ...

is also known by the common name of buttonweed.

Species

* '' Diodia aulacosperma''

K.Schum. Karl Moritz Schumann (17 June 1851 – 22 March 1904) was a German botanist. Schumann was born in Görlitz. He was curator of the Botanisches Museum in Berlin-Dahlem from 1880 until 1894. He also served as the first chairman of the ''Deut ...

- Socotra, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania * '' Diodia barbata'' (

Poir. Jean Louis Marie Poiret (11 June 1755 in Saint-Quentin7 April 1834 in Paris) was a French clergyman, botanist, and explorer. From 1785 to 1786, he was sent by Louis XVI to Algeria to study the flora. After the French Revolution, he became a ...

)

DC. Augustin Pyramus (or Pyrame) de Candolle (, , ; 4 February 17789 September 1841) was a Swiss botanist. René Louiche Desfontaines launched de Candolle's botanical career by recommending him at a herbarium. Within a couple of years de Candolle ...

- Guyana, Dominican Republic * '' Diodia barbigera''

Hook. Sir William Jackson Hooker (6 July 178512 August 1865) was an English botanist and botanical illustrator, who became the first director of Kew when in 1841 it was recommended to be placed under state ownership as a botanic garden. At Kew h ...

Arn. George Arnott Walker Arnott of Arlary (6 February 1799 – 17 April 1868) was a Scottish botanist. Early life George Arnott Walker Arnott was born in Edinburgh in 1799, the son of David Walker Arnott of Arlary. He attended Milnathort Parish ...

- Mexico * '' Diodia discolor''

- French Guiana * '' Diodia domingensis''

- Dominican Republic * '' Diodia flavescens'' Hiern - Angola, Zambia * '' Diodia incana'' Aresch. - Ecuador * '' Diodia kuntzei''

- Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay * '' Diodia macrophylla''

- Brazil, Paraguay * '' Diodia microcarpa''

- Brazil * '' Diodia mitens'' Bello - Puerto Rico * '' Diodia othonii'' Rizzini - Brazil * '' Diodia paludosa''

Kuntze Kuntze is a surname of German origin. People with that name include: * Carl Kuntze (1922-2006), Dutch rower who competed at the 1952 Summer Olympics * Edward J. Kuntze (1826-1870), Prussian-born American sculptor * Otto Kuntze (1843-1907), German ...

- Paraguay * '' Diodia perforata'' Urb. - Haiti * '' Diodia rubricosa'' Hiern - Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone * '' Diodia saponariifolia'' ( Cham. & Schltdl.)

* '' Diodia saponarioides''

C.Presl Carl Borivoj Presl ( cs, Karel Bořivoj Presl; 17 February 1794 – 2 October 1852) was a Czechs, Czech botanist. Biography Presl lived his entire life in Prague, and was a professor of botany at the Charles University in Prague, University of P ...

- Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay * '' Diodia simplex'' Sw. - Cuba, Jamaica * '' Diodia spicata'' Miq. - Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, French Guinea, Brazil * '' Diodia vaginalis''

Benth. George Bentham (22 September 1800 – 10 September 1884) was an English botanist, described by the weed botanist Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century". Born into a distinguished family, he initially studie ...

- Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Togo, Cameroon, Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville * '' Diodia verticillata''

Vahl Vahl is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Christian-Friedrich Vahl (born 1955), German cardiac surgeon * Emanuel Vahl (born 1938), Ukrainian-Israeli composer *Herbert-Ernst Vahl, German SS general *Jens Vahl (1796–1854), Danis ...

- Brazil, Lesser Antilles * '' Diodia virginiana'' L. - Virginia buttonweed - south-central and south-eastern United States from Texas to Kansas, east to Florida and New Jersey; also Connecticut, Cuba and Nicaragua. Naturalized in Japan, Taiwan and northern California

References

External links

''Diodia'' in the World Checklist of RubiaceaeJepson Manual TreatmentUSDA Plants Profile
Rubiaceae genera Spermacoceae Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus {{Rubioideae-stub