Thunbergia is a 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 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

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...

 Acanthaceae

Acanthaceae

The family Acanthaceae is a taxon of dicotyledonous flowering plants containing almost 250 genera and about 2500 species....

, native to tropical regions of Africa

Africa

Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

, Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

 and southern Asia

Asia

Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...

. Its members are known by various names, including thunbergias; clockvine on its own usually refers to Thunbergia grandiflora, while Thunbergia alata is often known as Black-eyed Susan vine or just Black-eyed Susan (not to be confused with other flowers called Black-eyed Susan). Orange clockvine is the name of Thunbergia gregorii.

The generic name honours Carl Peter Thunberg

Carl Peter Thunberg

Carl Peter Thunberg aka Carl Pehr Thunberg aka Carl Per Thunberg was a Swedish naturalist and an apostle of Carl Linnaeus. He has been called "the father of South African botany" and the "Japanese Linnaeus"....

.

Thunbergia species are vigorous annual or perennial vine

Vine

A vine in the narrowest sense is the grapevine , but more generally it can refer to any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent, that is to say climbing, stems or runners...

s and shrub

Shrub

A shrub or bush is distinguished from a tree by its multiple stems and shorter height, usually under 5–6 m tall. A large number of plants may become either shrubs or trees, depending on the growing conditions they experience...

s growing to 2-8 m tall.

Some are frequent garden escapes, becoming invasive species

Invasive species

"Invasive species", or invasive exotics, is a nomenclature term and categorization phrase used for flora and fauna, and for specific restoration-preservation processes in native habitats, with several definitions....

; they are regarded as environmental threats in Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

, for example.

Selected species

Thunbergia alata Thunbergia alata Thunbergia alata, commonly called Black-eyed Susan vine, is a herbaceous perennial climbing plant species in the Acanthaceae family. It is native to Eastern Africa, and has been naturalized in other parts of the world... Bojer ex Sims Thunbergia battiscombei Thunbergia coccinea Wall. ex D.Don Thunbergia cordata Colla Thunbergia elegans Borzí Thunbergia erecta Thunbergia erecta Thunbergia erecta is a herbaceous perennial climbing plant species in the genus Thunbergia native to western Africa and Asia.... (Benth.) T. Anderson Thunbergia fragrans Roxb. Thunbergia gibsonii S. Moore Thunbergia grandiflora Roxb.

Thunbergia gregorii Thunbergia ikbaliana De Wild. Thunbergia laurifolia Thunbergia laurifolia Thunbergia laurifolia, Laurel clock vine or Blue trumpet vine, is native to India and the Indomalaya ecozone, the species occurs from Indochina to Malaysia... Lindl. Thunbergia lutea T. Anderson Thunbergia mysorensis Thunbergia mysorensis Thunbergia mysorensis, or Indian Clock Vine, is in the Thunbergia genus of 'clock vines.' It is a woody-stemmed, evergreen climbing flowering plant, this vine can be found in Spain and in southern tropical India. The name, mysorensis is derived from the city of Mysore in the province of... (Wight) T.Anderson Thunbergia vogeliana Benth. Thunbergia wightiana T.Anderson

Formerly placed here

• Meyenia hawtayneana (Wall.) Nees (as T. hawtayneana Wall.)

External links

• A Tale of Two Susans II - non-scholarly essay on the etymology and history of Thunbergia (and Carl Peter Thunberg)