Ceratonia siliqua green pods.jpg

''Ceratonia'' is small genus of flowering plant, flowering trees in the pea family, Fabaceae, Endemism, endemic to the Mediterranean region and the Middle East. Its best known member, the Ceratonia siliqua, carob tree, is cultivated for its pods and has been widely introduced to regions with similar climates. The genus was long considered monotypic, but a second species, ''Ceratonia oreothauma'', was identified in 1979 from Oman and Somalia. It is in the tribe Umtizieae, subfamily Caesalpinioideae.

An obsolete name for ''Ceratonia'' was ''Acalis''.

Fossil record

†''Ceratonia emarginata'' fossils are known from the Miocene of Switzerland and Hungary.Leguminosae species from the territory of Abkhazia by Alexandra K. Shakryl, Advances in Legume Systematics: Part 4, The Fossil Record, Ed. P.S. Herendeen & Dilcher, 1992, The Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew,

References

Images

Image:Carruba.jpg, Fruit
Image:Ceratonia siliqua, total.jpg, Tree
Image:Johannisbrotbaum_bluete.jpg, Flowers
Image:Garroves.JPG, Fruits

{{Taxonbar, from=Q159376

Caesalpinioideae
Fabaceae genera
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus
Ceratonia,