Canotia
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Torr. |
Canotia is a genus of plants fromthe spindle tree family (Celastraceae).
description
Canotia are bare trees or bushes with dark glands on the trunks. The leaves are alternate and are reduced to scale leaves .
The inflorescence is axillary, sympodial or thyrsenic . The flowers are hermaphroditic and five-fold, the disc fleshy and ring-shaped, five-angled or five-lobed. The dust bag open along the center of the flower out of the ovary is fünffächrig, each compartment there are two to six ovules .
The fruit is an elongated, beak-shaped and woody capsule that opens lengthways and along the partitions (septa), each compartment with one (rarely two) seed . The seeds are elongated, flattened and rich in protein, they can be membranous at the base.
distribution
The genus is endemic to Mexico and the southeastern United States , where it is found in deserts.
Systematics
The genus has often been assigned to other families, such as the Rutaceae, Koeberliniaceae or a separate family, the Canotiaceae. Molecular genetic studies confirmed its placement in the spindle tree family, it is considered a sister taxon to Acanthothamnus .
The genus includes two types:
- Canotia holacantha Torr.
- Canotia wendtii M.C. Johnst.
proof
- MP Simmons: Celastraceae. In: Klaus Kubitzki (Ed.): The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants - Volume VI - Flowering Plants - Dicotyledons - Celastrales, Oxalidales, Rosales, Cornales, Ericales. 2004, pp. 29-64