Acleisanthes
Encyclopedia
Acleisanthes is a genus of flowering plant
s in the Bougainvillea
family, Nyctaginaceae
. There are currently 16 species. The generic name is derived from the Greek
words ακλειοτος (akleistos), meaning "not closed," and ανθος (anthos), meaning "flower." Plants of this genus are known commonly as trumpets due to the elongated, open-ended shape of their flowers. These are arid-adapted
perennials
with thick taproot
s which are usually compact and low to the ground or slightly ascending. An individual plant may have cleistogamous
(unopening and self-pollinating) flowers as well as opening flowers which are usually nocturnal as a water-saving adaptation and are pollinated by night-flying or crepuscular
insects such as hawkmoths
. Flowers are usually white, sometimes yellow. These plants are native to the Chihuahuan
and Sonoran Desert
s of Mexico
and the United States
.
Flowering plant
The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...
s in the Bougainvillea
Bougainvillea
Bougainvillea is a genus of flowering plants native to South America from Brazil west to Peru and south to southern Argentina . Different authors accept between four and 18 species in the genus...
family, Nyctaginaceae
Nyctaginaceae
Nyctaginaceae, the Four O'Clock Family, is a family of around 33 genera and 290 species of flowering plants, widely distributed in tropical and subtropical regions, with a few representatives in temperate regions...
. There are currently 16 species. The generic name is derived from the Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
words ακλειοτος (akleistos), meaning "not closed," and ανθος (anthos), meaning "flower." Plants of this genus are known commonly as trumpets due to the elongated, open-ended shape of their flowers. These are arid-adapted
Xerophyte
A xerophyte or xerophytic organism is a plant which has adapted to survive in an environment that lacks water, such as a desert. Xerophytic plants may have adapted shapes and forms or internal functions that reduce their water loss or store water during long periods of dryness...
perennials
Perennial plant
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives for more than two years. The term is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter lived annuals and biennials. The term is sometimes misused by commercial gardeners or horticulturalists to describe only herbaceous perennials...
with thick taproot
Taproot
A taproot is an enlarged, somewhat straight to tapering plant root that grows vertically downward. It forms a center from which other roots sprout laterally.Plants with taproots are difficult to transplant...
s which are usually compact and low to the ground or slightly ascending. An individual plant may have cleistogamous
Cleistogamy
Cleistogamy or automatic self-pollination describes the trait of certain plants to propagate by using non-opening, self-pollinating flowers...
(unopening and self-pollinating) flowers as well as opening flowers which are usually nocturnal as a water-saving adaptation and are pollinated by night-flying or crepuscular
Crepuscular
Crepuscular animals are those that are active primarily during twilight, that is during dawn and dusk. The word is derived from the Latin word crepusculum, meaning "twilight." Crepuscular is, thus, in contrast with diurnal and nocturnal behavior. Crepuscular animals may also be active on a bright...
insects such as hawkmoths
Sphingidae
Sphingidae is a family of moths , commonly known as hawk moths, sphinx moths and hornworms, that includes about 1,200 species . It is best represented in the tropics but there are species in every region . They are moderate to large in size and are distinguished among moths for their rapid,...
. Flowers are usually white, sometimes yellow. These plants are native to the Chihuahuan
Chihuahuan Desert
The Chihuahuan Desert is a desert, and an ecoregion designation, that straddles the U.S.-Mexico border in the central and northern portions of the Mexican Plateau, bordered on the west by the extensive Sierra Madre Occidental range, and overlaying northern portions of the east range, the Sierra...
and Sonoran Desert
Sonoran Desert
The Sonoran Desert is a North American desert which straddles part of the United States-Mexico border and covers large parts of the U.S. states of Arizona and California and the northwest Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Baja California Sur. It is one of the largest and hottest...
s of Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
and the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Taxonomy
In the year 2000 studies by Rachel A. Levin reclassified the members of two genera, Ammocodon and Selinocarpus, into the genus Acleisanthes.Selected species
- Acleisanthes acutifolia Standl.Paul Carpenter StandleyPaul Carpenter Standley was an American botanist.Standley was born in Avalon, Missouri...
– Needletip trumpets - Acleisanthes angustifolia
- Acleisanthes anisophylla A.Gray – Obliqueleaf Trumpets
- Acleisanthes chenopodioides
- Acleisanthes crassifoliaAcleisanthes crassifoliaThe Texas trumpet is a plant in the Nyctaginaceae family. It is found in North America and Mexico and is native to southwestern counties of Texas and northeastern Mexico. These plants grow low to the ground with the stem of these fully grown plants between 15cm to 20 cm long. There are few other...
A.Gray – Texas Trumpets - Acleisanthes diffusa
- Acleisanthes longiflora A.Gray – Angel trumpets, Yerba de la Rabia
- Acleisanthes nevadensisAcleisanthes nevadensisAcleisanthes nevadensis is a species of flowering plant in the four o'clock family known by the common names desert moonpod and desert wing-fruit. It is native to a section of the southwestern United States encompassing southern Nevada and adjacent corners of Utah and Arizona. One occurrence has...
(Standl.) B.L.TurnerBillie Lee TurnerBillie Lee Turner II is an American geographer, member of the National Academy of Sciences, and prominent among the third generation of the Berkeley School of Latin Americanist Geography. In August 2008, he took a position as the first Gilbert F...
– Desert Moonpod - Acleisanthes obtusa (Choisy) Standl. – Berlandier's Trumpets
- Acleisanthes parvifolia
- Acleisanthes wrightii (A.Gray) Benth.George BenthamGeorge Bentham CMG FRS was an English botanist, characterized by Duane Isely as "the premier systematic botanist of the nineteenth century".- Formative years :...
& Hook.f.Joseph Dalton HookerSir Joseph Dalton Hooker OM, GCSI, CB, MD, FRS was one of the greatest British botanists and explorers of the 19th century. Hooker was a founder of geographical botany, and Charles Darwin's closest friend...
ex Hemsl.William Hemsley (botanist)William Botting Hemsley was an English botanist and 1909 Victoria Medal of Honour recipient....
– Wright's Trumpets