Eremothamnus marlothianus is a species of shrub in the family

Family (biology)

In biological classification, family is* a taxonomic rank. Other well-known ranks are life, domain, kingdom, phylum, class, order, genus, and species, with family fitting between order and genus. As for the other well-known ranks, there is the option of an immediately lower rank, indicated by the...

 Asteraceae

Asteraceae

The Asteraceae or Compositae , is an exceedingly large and widespread family of vascular plants. The group has more than 22,750 currently accepted species, spread across 1620 genera and 12 subfamilies...

, the only species in the genus Eremothamnus. It is native

Indigenous (ecology)

In biogeography, a species is defined as native to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only natural processes, with no human intervention. Every natural organism has its own natural range of distribution in which it is regarded as native...

 to the coast

Coast

A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...

al desert

Desert

A desert is a landscape or region that receives an extremely low amount of precipitation, less than enough to support growth of most plants. Most deserts have an average annual precipitation of less than...

 of Namibia

Namibia

Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...

. It is a small shrub with spiny leaves.

Taxonomy and systematics

The genus Eremothamnus was erected in 1889 by Otto Hoffmann

Karl August Otto Hoffmann

Karl August Otto Hoffmann was a German botanist and a high school teacher in Berlin. Author of Sertum plantarum madagascariensium, the genus Hoffmanniella in the Asteraceae family was named after him.-External links:...

, when he named its only species

Species

In biology, a species is one of the basic units of biological classification and a taxonomic rank. A species is often defined as a group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring. While in many cases this definition is adequate, more precise or differing measures are...

, Eremothanmus marlothianus. The specific epithet is for Rudolf Marloth (1855–1931), a South African botanist, pharmacist

Pharmacist

Pharmacists are allied health professionals who practice in pharmacy, the field of health sciences focusing on safe and effective medication use...

, and analytical chemist. The generic name is derived from the Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 words eremos and thamnos. Hoffmann did not give an etymology

Etymology

Etymology is the study of the history of words, their origins, and how their form and meaning have changed over time.For languages with a long written history, etymologists make use of texts in these languages and texts about the languages to gather knowledge about how words were used during...

 for the name

Botanical name

A botanical name is a formal scientific name conforming to the International Code of Botanical Nomenclature and, if it concerns a plant cultigen, the additional cultivar and/or Group epithets must conform to the International Code of Nomenclature for Cultivated Plants...

 and it has been supposed that it means "solitary shrub", but "desert shrub" is also a possible interpretation.

Eremothamnus is closely related to Hoplophyllum

Hoplophyllum

Hoplophyllum is a genus of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae. It has two species, Hoplophyllum spinosum and Hoplophyllum ferox, both native to South Africa....

. These two genera form a clade

Clade

A clade is a group consisting of a species and all its descendants. In the terms of biological systematics, a clade is a single "branch" on the "tree of life". The idea that such a "natural group" of organisms should be grouped together and given a taxonomic name is central to biological...

 in the subfamily

Taxonomic rank

In biological classification, rank is the level in a taxonomic hierarchy. Examples of taxonomic ranks are species, genus, family, and class. Each rank subsumes under it a number of less general categories...

 Cichorioideae

Cichorioideae

Cichorioideae is a subfamily of the family Asteraceae of flowering plants. Familiar members of Cichorioideae include lettuce, dandelions and Gazanias. The subfamily comprises about 240 genera and about 2900 species...

. Little else can be said with confidence about their phylogenetic position. Some authors have placed Eremothamnus in the tribe

Tribe (biology)

In biology, a tribe is a taxonomic rank between family and genus. It is sometimes subdivided into subtribes.Some examples include the tribes: Canini, Acalypheae, Hominini, Bombini, and Antidesmeae.-See also:* Biological classification* Rank...

 Arctotideae. In some of the more recent classification

Biological classification

Biological classification, or scientific classification in biology, is a method to group and categorize organisms by biological type, such as genus or species. Biological classification is part of scientific taxonomy....

 systems, Eremothamnus and Hoplophyllum constitute the tribe Eremothamneae.

External links

• Eremothamnus established In: Bot. Jahrb. Syst.
• CRC World Dictionary of Plant Names: D–L
• Classification (compositae book, chapter 11), The International Compositae Alliance