''Pleuranthodendron'' 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 consists of one

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 ...

(''Pleuranthodendron lindenii'') 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 ...

, specifically Central America and northern South America.Alford, M.H. 2006. A new species of ''Hasseltia'' (Salicaceae) from Costa Rica and Panama. ''Brittonia'' 58(3): 277-284. 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. ''Pleuranthodendron'' is now classified in Salicaceae, along with close relatives '' Hasseltia'' 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 Monotypic Malpighiales genera {{Salicaceae-stub