''Hasseltia'' 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

Salicaceae The Salicaceae is the willow family of flowering plants. The traditional family (Salicaceae ''sensu stricto'') included the willows, poplar, aspen, and cottonwoods. Genetic studies summarized by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (APG) have greatly ...

. It contains four

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 small to medium-sized trees native to the

neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In bioge ...

, ranging from

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 ...

south to

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and Bolivia.Alford, M.H. 2006. A new species of ''Hasseltia'' (Salicaceae) from Costa Rica and Panama. ''Brittonia'' 58(3): 277-284. The genus is named for the Dutch physician and botanist

Johan Conrad van Hasselt Johan Conrad van Hasselt (occasionally Johan Coenraad van Hasselt; 24 June 1797 in Doesburg – 8 September 1823), was a Dutch physician, zoologist, botanist and mycologist. Conrad van Hasselt studied medicine at the University of Groningen. In ...

. ''Hasseltia'' is unique among Salicaceae in that the species have pseudo-axile

placentation Placentation refers to the formation, type and structure, or arrangement of the placenta. The function of placentation is to transfer nutrients, respiratory gases, and water from maternal tissue to a growing embryo, and in some instances to remov ...

, compound

umbel In botany, an umbel is an inflorescence that consists of a number of short flower stalks (called pedicels) that spread from a common point, somewhat like umbrella ribs. The word was coined in botanical usage in the 1590s, from Latin ''umbella'' "p ...

late

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a Plant stem, stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphology (biology), Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of sperma ...

s, and a pair of glands embedded in the base of the leaf blades. Formerly placed in the heterogeneous family

Flacourtiaceae The Flacourtiaceae is a defunct family of flowering plants whose former members have been scattered to various families, mostly to the Achariaceae and Salicaceae. It was so vaguely defined that hardly anything seemed out of place there and it beca ...

,Sleumer, H.O. 1980. Flacourtiaceae. ''Flora Neotropica'' 22: 1-499. ''Hasseltia'' is now classified in Salicaceae, along with close relatives '' Pleuranthodendron'' and '' Macrothumia'', with which they are commonly confused.Alford, M. H. 2003. Claves para los géneros de Flacourtiaceae de Perú y del Nuevo Mundo. ''Arnaldoa'' 10: 19-38.Gentry, A. H. 1993. ''A Field Guide to the Families and Genera of Woody Plants of Northwest South America (Colombia, Ecuador, Peru).'' Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

References

Salicaceae Salicaceae genera Flora of Central America Flora of South America Trees of Central America Trees of South America {{Salicaceae-stub