Meineckia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Phyllanthaceae first described as a genus in 1858.Baillon, Henri Ernest. 1858. Étude générale du groupe des Euphorbiacées 586Tropicos, Meineckia Baill.
Meineckia is one of eight genera in the tribe Poranthereae.Maria S. Vorontsova and Petra Hoffmann. 2008. "A phylogenetic classification of tribe Poranthereae (Phyllanthaceae)." Kew Bulletin 63(1):41-59. They are native to the Americas, South Asia, Africa, and Madagascar.Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families The genus is particularly well represented in Madagascar. Species of Meineckia may be monoecious or dioecious. They are trees or shrubs, or rarely, they are subherbaceous.
Species
Meineckia acuminata – Morogoro Meineckia baronii – NW Madagascar Meineckia bartlettii – Jalisco, Chiapas, Belize, Honduras Meineckia calycina – Anamalai Hills Meineckia capillipes – Guatemala, Honduras Meineckia cerebroides – SE Madagascar Meineckia decaryi – Madagascar Meineckia filipes – Socotra Meineckia fruticans – Kenya, Tanzania Meineckia gracilipes – SE Madagascar Meineckia grandiflora – Ulanga, Lindi Meineckia humbertii – SW Madagascar Meineckia leandrii – W Madagascar Meineckia longipes – SW India Meineckia macropus – Mishmi Hills Meineckia madagascariensis – E Madagascar Meineckia neogranatensis – Nicaragua, Colombia, Brazil Meineckia nusbaumeri – Madagascar Meineckia nguruensis – Nguru Meineckia orientalis – E Madagascar Meineckia ovata – Teita Meineckia parvifolia – S India, Sri Lanka Meineckia paxii – Lushoto Meineckia peltata – Madagascar Meineckia phyllanthoides – C + E Africa, Oman, Yemen Meineckia pubiflora – SW Madagascar Meineckia ranirisonii – Madagascar Meineckia stipularis – Tanzania Meineckia trichogynis – Madagascar Meineckia uzungwaensis – Mufindi Meineckia vestita – Tanzania Meineckia websteri – Madagascar
Circumscription The circumscription of Meineckia has undergone several changes since Henri Ernest Baillon erected the genus in 1858.Maria S. Vorontsova, Petra Hoffmann, Olivier Maurin, and Mark W. Chase. 2007. "Phylogenetics of tribe Poranthereae (Phyllanthaceae)." American Journal of Botany 94(12):2026-2040. Some of its species have been put in other genera and sometimes other genera have been merged with it. The name Peltandra had been used for some species in Meineckia,Peltandra At: International Plant Names Index (see External links below). but this is now a nomen rejectum. The name Peltandra is now conserved as the name of a genus in Araceae.Peltandra In: Index Nominum Genericorum. In: Regnum Vegetabile (see External links below).
Meineckia was last revised in 2008 by Vorontsova and Hoffmann. They recognized 30 species and divided the genus into two subgenera.
Meineckia subgenus Petaliferae has only two species: its type species, Meineckia cerebroides, and Meineckia gracilipes. They are dioecious shrubs from Madagascar. Their petals are very small.
Meineckia subgenus Meineckia has 28 species. Its type species, Meineckia phyllanthoides, is the same as that of the genus.Meineckia At: Index Nominum Genericorum. (see External links below). They are monoecious or dioecious trees or shrubs, or sometimes, subherbaceous. Their flowers have no petals. This subgenus is the only completely apetalous taxon in the tribe Poranthereae.
Vorontsova and Hoffmann did not recognize Zimmermannia and Zimmermanniopsis as separate genera, but placed their species in Meineckia subgenus Meineckia.
References
External links Peltandra At: IPNI Peltandra At:Index Nominum Genericorum At: References At: NMNH Department of Botany At: Research and Collections At: Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Meineckia At: ING