Crossosomataceae is a small
plant
Plants are predominantly photosynthetic eukaryotes of the kingdom Plantae. Historically, the plant kingdom encompassed all living things that were not animals, and included algae and fungi; however, all current definitions of Plantae exclu ...
family, consisting of four
genera of
shrubs found only in the dry parts of the
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
southwest and
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 ...
. This family has included up to ten species in the past,
although as of 2021 six species are still recognised.
''Crossosoma'' are
shrub-like plants which can vary from being 50 cm to 5 meters tall, with small alternating leaves that surround the stem, or leaves clustered in small spurts (fascicles).
[Richardson, P. (1970). Morphology of the Crossosomataceae. I. Leaf, Stem and Node. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 97(1), 34-39. doi:10.2307/2483988] ''Apacheria'', however, has opposite leaves.
[ ''Crossosoma'' has usually white flowers that are generally bisexual and have 5 petals attached to a nectary disk,][ but in ''Velascoa'' the flowers are campanulate and have an extremely reduced nectary disk.][
]
Genera
*''Apacheria
Apachería was the term used to designate the region inhabited by the Apache people. The earliest written records have it as a region extending from north of the Arkansas River into what are now the northern states of Mexico and from Central Tex ...
'' - one species, cliff brittlebush, '' Apacheria chiricahuensis''
*'' Crossosoma'' - two species, ''C. bigelovii'' and ''C. californicum''. ''C. bigelovii'' var. ''parviflora'' or ''C. parviflora'' was described for plants from the northern side of the Grand Canyon with a disjunct population in Sonora, with slightly smaller flowers than ''C. bigelovii'', but it is not recognised as distinct even at a varietal level by the ''Flora of North America'' in the 2015 volume.[
*'' Glossopetalon'' - two][ (or four species)][
*'']Velascoa
''Velascoa'' is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Crossosomataceae. It only contains one known species, ''Velascoa recondita'' Calderón & Rzed.
It is native to a single location (as far as known at the time of discov ...
'' - one species
References
Rosid families
{{Rosid-stub