Comptonia columbiana SRIC SR 05-09-01 img1

''Comptonia'' is a

genus Genus ( plural genera ) is a taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In the hierarchy of biological classification, genus com ...

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

Myricaceae The Myricaceae are a small family of dicotyledonous shrubs and small trees in the order Fagales. There are three genera in the family, although some botanists separate many species from ''Myrica'' into a fourth genus ''Morella''. About 55 speci ...

, native to parts of eastern North America. It has one extant (living) species, ''

Comptonia peregrina ''Comptonia peregrina'' is a species of flowering plant in the family Myricaceae. It is the only extant (living) species in the genus ''Comptonia (plant), Comptonia'', although a number of extinct species are placed in the genus. ''Comptonia pere ...

'', and a number of extinct species.

Taxonomy

The living species was first described, as ''Liquidambar peregrina'', by

Carl Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus (; 23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after his ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné Blunt (2004), p. 171. (), was a Swedish botanist, zoologist, taxonomist, and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the ...

in 1753, in the second volume of ''

Species Plantarum ' (Latin for "The Species of Plants") is a book by Carl Linnaeus, originally published in 1753, which lists every species of plant known at the time, classified into genera. It is the first work to consistently apply binomial names and was the ...

''. Further on in the same volume, he described ''Myrica aspleniifolia'' as a different species (with the epithet spelt ''asplenifolia''). In 1763, he changed his mind concerning ''Myrica aspleniifolia'', and it became ''Liquidambar aspleniifolia'', and so in the same genus as ''Liquidambar peregrina''. In 1789, Charles Louis L'Héritier placed Linnaeus's original ''Myrica aspleniifolia'' in his new genus ''Comptonia''. The genus is named in honor of Rev. Henry Compton (1632-1713), bishop of Oxford. In 1894,

John M. Coulter John Merle Coulter, Ph. D. (November 20, 1851 – December 23, 1928) was an American botanist and educator. In his career in education administration, Coulter is notable for serving as the president of Indiana University Bloomington, Indiana Univ ...

transferred Linnaeus's ''Liquidambar peregrina'' to ''Comptonia'', and treated Linnaeus's ''Myrica aspleniifolia'' as a

synonym A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...

. ''Comptonia peregrina'' is now the only extant (living) species in the genus.

References

Myricaceae Fagales genera {{Fagales-stub