Nephrophyllidium is a monotypic

Monotypic

In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group with only one biological type. The term's usage differs slightly between botany and zoology. The term monotypic has a separate use in conservation biology, monotypic habitat, regarding species habitat conversion eliminating biodiversity and...

 genus

Genus

In biology, a genus is a low-level taxonomic rank used in the biological classification of living and fossil organisms, which is an example of definition by genus and differentia...

 of aquatic flowering plant

Flowering plant

The flowering plants , also known as Angiospermae or Magnoliophyta, are the most diverse group of land plants. Angiosperms are seed-producing plants like the gymnosperms and can be distinguished from the gymnosperms by a series of synapomorphies...

s in the family Menyanthaceae

Menyanthaceae

Menyanthaceae are a family of aquatic and wetland plants in the order Asterales. There are approximately 60-70 species in five genera distributed worldwide. The simple or compound leaves arise alternately from a creeping rhizome. In the submersed aquatic genus Nymphoides, leaves are floating and...

. They are wetland plants with basal reniform and crenate leaves. Flowers are five-parted and white, and the petals are adorned with lateral wings and a midline keel. Nephrophyllidium is most nearly related to Menyanthes

Menyanthes

Menyanthes is a monotypic genus of flowering plant in the family Menyanthaceae containing the single species Menyanthes trifoliata...

, which is very similar in habit. The genus name is derived from the kidney-shaped leaves ( = kidney and phyllon = leaf), and the specific epithet refers to the curled petal edges ( = cockscomb).

Nephrophyllidium crista-galli is found in the Pacific Northwest of America, and in Japan, where it can be called subspecies japonicum (Franch.) Yonek. & H.Ohashi. Nephrophyllidium is commonly known as 'deer cabbage'.

The IAPT

International Association for Plant Taxonomy

The International Association for Plant Taxonomy promotes an understanding of plant biodiversity, facilitates international communication of research between botanists, and oversees matters of uniformity and stability in plant names . The IAPT was founded on July 18, 1950 at the Seventh...

 determined that a prior synonym for the genus, Fauria Franch.

Adrien René Franchet

Adrien René Franchet was a French botanist, based at the Paris Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle. He is noted for his extensive work describing the flora of China and Japan, based on the collections made by Armand David, Pierre Jean Marie Delavay, Paul Guillaume Farges and others.-References:...

 1886, too closely resembled the genus Faurea

Faurea

Faurea is a genus of plant in family Proteaceae.Species include:* Faurea macnaughtonii* Faurea rochetiana* Faurea saligna...

(Proteaceae

Proteaceae

Proteaceae is a family of flowering plants distributed in the Southern Hemisphere. The family comprises about 80 genera with about 1600 species. Together with the Platanaceae and Nelumbonaceae they make up the order Proteales. Well known genera include Protea, Banksia, Embothrium, Grevillea,...

), and thus conserved Nephrophyllidium as the accepted genus name.