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Murdannia

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Murdannia
Murdannia semiteres in Hyderabad, India
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Commelinales
Family: Commelinaceae
Subfamily: Commelinoideae
Tribe: Commelineae
Genus: Murdannia
Royle (1839)
Type species
M. edulis
Synonyms[1]
  • Anthericopsis Engl. (1895)
  • Aphylax Salisb. (1812), nom. nud.
  • Baoulia A. Chev. (1912)
  • Dichaespermum Wight (1853)
  • Dilasia Raf. (1838)
  • Ditelesia Raf. (1837)
  • Gillettia Rendle (1896)
  • Prionostachys Hassk. (1866)
  • Streptylis Raf. (1838)
  • Talipulia Raf. (1837)

Murdannia is a genus of annual or perennial monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Commelinaceae.

The genus is one of the largest in the family. They are most easily distinguished from other genera in the family by their three-lobed or spear-shaped antherodes (i.e. non-functional anthers).[2] Also it is the only genus with staminodes (i.e. non-functional stamens) opposite the petals.[3]

Murdannia are found in tropical regions across the globe with extensions into warm temperate areas.[4] Typically, Murdannia species are found in open areas in mesic soils. However, some are semi-aquatic, and a limited few are found in closed forest situations. Three species are naturalized in the United States (Murdannia keisak, M. nudiflora and M. spirata).[5][6][7]

The genus is named in honor of Murdan Ali, a plant collector who worked for John Forbes Royle and maintained the herbarium at Saharanpur, India.[6][8] He was a munshi who took a keen interest in natural history and under the training of Falconer, Royle and Edgeworth had become a proficient botanist who compiled a vernacular flora of northern India and the Himalayas which was however never published.[9]

Species[1][4]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b Murdannia Royle. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  2. ^ Faden, Robert B. (1998), "Commelinaceae", in Kubitzki, Klaus (ed.), The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants, vol. 4, Berlin: Springer, pp. 109–128, ISBN 978-3-540-64061-5
  3. ^ Evans, Timothy M.; Sytsma, Kenneth J.; Faden, Robert B.; Givnish, Thomas J. (2003), "Phylogenetic Relationships in the Commelinaceae: II. A Cladistic Analysis of rbcL Sequences and Morphology", Systematic Botany, 28 (2): 270–292, doi:10.1043/0363-6445-28.2.270 (inactive 2024-09-18){{citation}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of September 2024 (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ a b Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  5. ^ Shinners, L. H. 1962. Aneilema (Commelinaceae) in the United States. Sida 1: 100--101.
  6. ^ a b Flora of North America v 22 p 190.
  7. ^ Faden, Robert B. 2001. New taxa of Murdannia (Commelinaceae) from Sri Lanka. Novon 11:22-30.
  8. ^ Royle, John Forbes. Illustrations of the Botany ... of the Himalayan Mountains ... 1: 403, pl. 95, f. 3. 1839.
  9. ^ Arnold, David (2005). The Tropics and the Traveling Gaze: India, Landscape, and Science 1800-1856. Orient Blackswan. p. 183.