Gerrardanthus 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 plants native to tropical Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

 and South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, first described by William Henry Harvey

William Henry Harvey

William Henry Harvey was an Irish botanist who specialised in algae.- Biography :William Henry Harvey was born at Summerville near Limerick, Ireland, in 1811, the youngest of 11 children. His father Joseph Massey Harvey, was a Quaker and prominent merchant...

 (1811–1866), and named in honor of William Tyrer Gerrard

William Tyrer Gerrard

William Tyrer Gerrard was an English botanical collector in Natal and Madagascar in the 1860s. The genus Gerrardanthus is named in his honor....

 (died 1866 in Mahavelona

Mahavelona

Mahavelona , town in Fivondronana Toamasina II, in the autonomous province of Toamasina, on the northern part of the east coast of Madagascar....

, Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

), botanical collector in Natal

Colony of Natal

The Colony of Natal was a British colony in south-eastern Africa. It was proclaimed a British colony on May 4, 1843 after the British government had annexed the Boer Republic of Natalia, and on 31 May 1910 combined with three other colonies to form the Union of South Africa, as one of its...

 and Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

 in the 1860s.

Gerrardanthus is a perennial climber, with height up to 5 meters, rising from a swollen, tuberous base with a thickness of up to 1.5 meters. Stems are herbaceous but becoming woody and grey-barked as they age.

Species

• Gerrardanthus aethiopicus
• Gerrardanthus grandiflorus
• Gerrardanthus lobatus
• Gerrardanthus macrorhiza (bigfoot)
• Gerrardanthus nigericus
• Gerrardanthus paniculatus
• Gerrardanthus parviflorus
• Gerrardanthus portentosus
• Gerrardanthus tomentosus
• Gerrardanthus trimenii
• Gerrardanthus zenkeri