Exostema
Encyclopedia
Exostema is a genus
Genus
In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of flowering plant
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 family
Family (biology)
In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Rubiaceae
Rubiaceae
The Rubiaceae is a family of flowering plants, variously called the coffee family, madder family, or bedstraw family. The group contains many commonly known plants, including the economically important coffee , quinine , and gambier , and the horticulturally valuable madder , west indian jasmine ,...

. It consists of trees and shrubs, endemic to the neotropics, with most of the species occurring in the West Indies. Estimates of the number of species
Species
In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

 range from 25 to 44.

The type species
Type species
In biological nomenclature, a type species is both a concept and a practical system which is used in the classification and nomenclature of animals and plants. The value of a "type species" lies in the fact that it makes clear what is meant by a particular genus name. A type species is the species...

 for the genus is Exostema caribaeum. It is a tree of Central America
Central America
Central America is the central geographic region of the Americas. It is the southernmost, isthmian portion of the North American continent, which connects with South America on the southeast. When considered part of the unified continental model, it is considered a subcontinent...

 and the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

. Its lumber
Lumber
Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....

 is of limited use.

Exostema was first named
Botanical name
A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar and/or Group epithets must conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants...

 by Christiaan Hendrik Persoon as a subgenus
Subgenus
In biology, a subgenus is a taxonomic rank directly below genus.In zoology, a subgeneric name can be used independently or included in a species name, in parentheses, placed between the generic name and the specific epithet: e.g. the Tiger Cowry of the Indo-Pacific, Cypraea tigris Linnaeus, which...

 of Cinchona
Cinchona
Cinchona or Quina is a genus of about 38 species in the family Rubiaceae, native to tropical South America. They are large shrubs or small trees growing 5–15 metres in height with evergreen foliage. The leaves are opposite, rounded to lanceolate and 10–40 cm long. The flowers are white, pink...

. It was first validly published as a genus by Aimé Bonpland
Aimé Bonpland
Aimé Jacques Alexandre Bonpland was a French explorer and botanist.Bonpland's real name was Goujaud, and he was born in La Rochelle, a coastal city in France. After serving as a surgeon in the French army, and studying under J. N...

 in 1807. The generic name is derived
Etymology
Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...

 from the Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek
Ancient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...

 words, exo, meaning "outside", and stema, "a stamen".

Exostema is probably polyphyletic.

Description

Exostema is a genus of neotropical tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

s and shrub
Shrub
A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

s. The flowers have a slender corolla tube with recurved corolla lobes. The stamens are inserted near the base of the corolla tube and exserted well beyond its mouth. The anthers are long and basifixed.

Species

The following species list may be incomplete or contain synonyms
Synonym (taxonomy)
In scientific nomenclature, a synonym is a scientific name that is or was used for a taxon of organisms that also goes by a different scientific name. For example, Linnaeus was the first to give a scientific name to the Norway spruce, which he called Pinus abies...

.
  • Exostema brachycarpum
    Exostema brachycarpum
    Exostema brachycarpum is a species of plant in the Rubiaceae family. It is endemic to Jamaica.-Source:* World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1998. . Downloaded on 21 August 2007....

      (Swartz) Schultes
  • Exostema caribaeum  ( Jacquin
    Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin
    Nikolaus Joseph Freiherr von Jacquin or Baron Nikolaus von Jacquin. was a scientist who studied medicine, chemistry and botany....

    ) Roemer
    Johann Jacob Roemer
    Johann Jacob Roemer was a physician and professor of botany in Zurich, Switzerland. He was also an entomologist.With Austrian botanist Joseph August Schultes, he published the 16th edition of Carolus Linnaeus' Systema Vegetabilium....

     & Schultes
    Josef August Schultes
    Josef August Schultes 1773-1831 was an Austrian botanist and professor in Vienna. Together with Johann Jacob Roemer, he published the 16th edition of Linnaeus' Systema Vegetabilium. In 1821, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences.Father of Julius Hermann...

     
       
  • Exostema orbiculatum
    Exostema orbiculatum
    Exostema orbiculatum is a species of plant in the Rubiaceae family. It is endemic to Jamaica.-Source:* World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1998. . Downloaded on 21 August 2007....

      Proctor 
  • Exostema triflorum
    Exostema triflorum
    Exostema triflorum is a species of plant in the Rubiaceae family. It is endemic to Jamaica. It is threatened by habitat loss.-Source:* World Conservation Monitoring Centre 1998. . Downloaded on 21 August 2007....

      (W. Wright
    William Wright (botanist)
    William Wright was a Scottish physician and botanist.Born in March 1735 in Crieff, Perthshire, he studied at Crieff Grammar School and the University of Edinburgh, and obtained a medical degree at St. Andrews . He served as an apprentice with G Dennistoun in Falkirk , and became a navy surgeon in...

    ) G. Don
    George Don
    George Don was a Scottish botanist.George Don was born at Doo Hillock, Forfar, Angus, Scotland on 29 April 1797. His father, also named George Don, was Superintendent of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 1802 and his mother was Caroline Clementina Stuart. George was the elder brother of David...



  • External links

    The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
     
    x
    OK