Trithuria sect. Altofinia is a section within the genus Trithuria native to Australia.
Description
The indehiscent, slightly beaked, apocarpous berry fruitRomanov, M. S., Bobrov, A. V. C., Iovlev, P. S., Roslov, M. S., Zdravchev, N. S., Sorokin, A. N., ... & Kandidov, M. V. (2024). Fruit and seed structure in the ANA-grade angiosperms: Ancestral traits and specializations. American Journal of Botany, 111(1), e16264. with papillae does not have longitudinal ribs or distinct epicuticular wax deposits on the surface. The fruit stalk bears a distal constriction, serving as an abscission zone. The smooth seeds have a thick cuticle.
Taxonomy It was described by Dmitry Dmitrievich Sokoloff, William J. D. Iles, Paula J. Rudall, and Sean W. Graham with Trithuria cowieana as the type species.Iles, W. J., Rudall, P. J., Sokoloff, D. D., Remizowa, M. V., Macfarlane, T. D., Logacheva, M. D., & Graham, S. W. (2012). Molecular phylogenetics of Hydatellaceae (Nymphaeales): Sexual-system homoplasy and a new sectional classification. American Journal of Botany, 99(4), 663-676. Species It has two species:
Trithuria cookeana Trithuria cowieana
Etymology The section name Altofinia is derived from altus meaning elevated or high, and finis meaning limit or boundary. It refers to the geographic distribution of its species, which occur on the upper end of the Northern Territory, Australia.
Distribution Its species occur in Australia (Northern Territory).Sokoloff, D. D., Remizowa, M. V., Macfarlane, T. D., Conran, J. G., Yadav, S. R., & Rudall, P. J. (2013). Comparative fruit structure in Hydatellaceae (Nymphaeales) reveals specialized pericarp dehiscence in some early–divergent angiosperms with ascidiate carpels. Taxon, 62(1), 40-61.
Phylogeny Trithuria sect. Altofinia split from Trithuria sect. Hamannia about 6 million years ago in the Upper Miocene.Lin, Q. (2014). Using a low-copy nuclear gene (phosphoglycerate kinase; PGK) to explore the phylogeny of the aquatic plant family Hydatellaceae (Nymphaeales) (Doctoral dissertation, University of British Columbia).
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