''Thomandersia'' is the sole

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 ...

in the Thomandersiaceae, an

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 ...

n family of

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. ''Thomandersia'' is a genus of shrubs and small

tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

s, with six species native to Central and

West Africa West Africa or Western Africa is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Mali, M ...

. ''Thomandersia'' traditionally has been classified within the family

Acanthaceae Acanthaceae is a family (the acanthus family) of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing almost 250 genera and about 2500 species. Most are tropical herbs, shrubs, or twining vines; some are epiphytes. Only a few species are distributed in tem ...

based on

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines * Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts * Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies ...

by several authors, including APG I 1998,

APG II The APG II system (Angiosperm Phylogeny Group II system) of plant classification is the second, now obsolete, version of a modern, mostly molecular-based, system of plant taxonomy that was published in April 2003 by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Gr ...

2003, and in

Schlegeliaceae Schlegeliaceae is a family of plants native to tropical America. This family is sometimes included in Scrophulariaceae The Scrophulariaceae are a family of flowering plants, commonly known as the figwort family. The plants are annual and per ...

at APG Website Missouri Botanical Garden, in a list of genera of this family, but Stevens argues further that should be considered out of this taxon by weak support and regarded Thomandersiaceae. The genus was elevated to family status, previously by Sreemadhavan 1976 and 1977 on the basis of

leaf A leaf ( : leaves) is any of the principal appendages of a vascular plant stem, usually borne laterally aboveground and specialized for photosynthesis. Leaves are collectively called foliage, as in "autumn foliage", while the leaves, ste ...

anatomy and anther morphology, and more recently by Wortley ''et al.'' 2005 and 2007, based on phylogenetic analyses of genetic material. The genus was described with this name in 1892 by French botanist

Henri Ernest Baillon Henri Ernest Baillon was a French botanist and physician. He was born in Calais on 30 November 1827 and died in Paris on 19 July 1895. Baillon spent his professional life as a professor of natural history, and he published numerous works on bo ...

.Baillon, Henri Ernest. 1892. Histoire des Plantes 10: 456
in LatinTropicos, ''Thomandersia'' Baill.
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Species

The genus includes the following species:Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
/ref> * '' Thomandersia anachoreta'' Heine - Liberia, Ivory Coast * '' Thomandersia butayei'' De Wild. - Republic of the Congo,

Gabon Gabon (; ; snq, Ngabu), officially the Gabonese Republic (french: République gabonaise), is a country on the west coast of Central Africa. Located on the equator, it is bordered by Equatorial Guinea to the northwest, Cameroon to the nort ...

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (french: République démocratique du Congo (RDC), colloquially "La RDC" ), informally Congo-Kinshasa, DR Congo, the DRC, the DROC, or the Congo, and formerly and also colloquially Zaire, is a country in ...

* '' Thomandersia congolana'' De Wild. & T. Durand - Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo,

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

, Equatorial Guinea * '' Thomandersia hensii'' De Wild. & T. Durand - from

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

Angola , national_anthem = " Angola Avante"() , image_map = , map_caption = , capital = Luanda , religion = , religion_year = 2020 , religion_ref = , coordina ...

* '' Thomandersia laurentii'' De Wild. - Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo * '' Thomandersia laurifolia'' ( T. Anderson ex Benth.)

Baill. Henri Ernest Baillon was a French botanist and physician. He was born in Calais on 30 November 1827 and died in Paris on 19 July 1895. Baillon spent his professional life as a professor of natural history, and he published numerous works on ...

- Nigeria, Republic of the Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea

References

Lamiales Lamiales genera Flora of West Tropical Africa Taxa named by Henri Ernest Baillon {{Lamiales-stub