Sclerocarpus
Encyclopedia
Sclerocarpus is a genus
of flowering plants in the family Asteraceae
. It includes 8 species of annuals and procumbent perennials which occur primarily in Mexico and Central America, with one species extending as far north as the state of Texas in the USA and one species widely distributed and occurring in the West Indies, South America, Africa, and Asia . The genus is distinguished morphologically by the pales, which are modified to completely and tightly enclose the mature cypsela (achene) and often have a tuberculate surface. Some species of Aldama have a somewhat similar modification of the pales but in those the pale surface is irregularly wrinkled and pitted rather than tuberculate. Sclerocarpus is a member of the sunflower subtribe, Helianthinae, and is placed by molecular data as a relatively basal member of the group .
Species include:
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 flowering plants in the family 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...
. It includes 8 species of annuals and procumbent perennials which occur primarily in Mexico and Central America, with one species extending as far north as the state of Texas in the USA and one species widely distributed and occurring in the West Indies, South America, Africa, and Asia . The genus is distinguished morphologically by the pales, which are modified to completely and tightly enclose the mature cypsela (achene) and often have a tuberculate surface. Some species of Aldama have a somewhat similar modification of the pales but in those the pale surface is irregularly wrinkled and pitted rather than tuberculate. Sclerocarpus is a member of the sunflower subtribe, Helianthinae, and is placed by molecular data as a relatively basal member of the group .
Species include:
- Sclerocarpus africanus Jacq.
- Sclerocarpus divaricatus (Benth.) Benth. & Hook.
- Sclerocarpus multifidus Greenm.
- Sclerocarpus papposus (Greenm.) Feddema
- Sclerocarpus phyllocepalus S. F. Blake
- Sclerocarpus sessifolius Greenm.
- Sclerocarpus spatulatus Rose
- Sclerocarpus uniserialis (Hook.) Benth. & Hook.