Codon

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Asterids
Cladus: Lamiids
Ordo: Boraginales

Familia: Boraginaceae
Subfamilia: Boraginoideae
Tribus: Codoneae
Genus: Codon
Species: C. royenii – C. schenckii
Name

Codon L., 1767
References
Primary references

Linnaeus, C. 1767. Systema naturae per regna tria naturae, secundum classes, ordines, genera, species, cum characteribus, differentiis, synonymis, locis. Editio duodecima, reformata. Tomus 1 (Regnum Animale), Pars 2: 533–1327. Holmiæ [Stockholm]. Impensis Direct Laurentii Salvii. Biblioteca Digital BHL Reference page. : 12, 2: 292

Links

Govaerts, R. et al. 2020. Codon in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2020 Oct 16. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2020. Codon. Published online. Accessed: Oct 16 2020.
Tropicos.org 2020. Codon. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2020 Oct 16.
Hassler, M. 2020. Codon. World Plants: Synonymic Checklists of the Vascular Plants of the World In: Roskovh, Y., Abucay, L., Orrell, T., Nicolson, D., Bailly, N., Kirk, P., Bourgoin, T., DeWalt, R.E., Decock, W., De Wever, A., Nieukerken, E. van, Zarucchi, J. & Penev, L., eds. 2020. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2020 Oct 16. Reference page. as Codonaceae Weigend & Hilger

Codon is a small genus of plants from South Africa in the family Codonaceae[1] in the order Boraginales.[2][3] The genus Codon comprises two species.[4]

Codon was placed in the Hydrophyllaceae and Boraginaceae.[2] Recent phyllogenetic analysis place it as sister group to the Wellstediaceae and Boraginaceae s.str.[5]

The species of the genus Codon are annual to perennial herbs. The whole plants are densely covered with strong mineralised, unicellular trichomes on cystolithic foot-cells. The plants are growing from strong taproots.[4]

The flowers are tetracyclic and polymerous. The whorls are 10- to 20-merous with a high variability even within one plant individual. Most common are 12-merous flowers. The sepals are free. The petals are fused up to three quarter of their length. The bases of the filaments are fused with the base of the corolla. The fused parts of the filaments form septa. These septa form separate nectar chambers. The gynoecium is superior and consists of two carpels. The base of the gynoecium forms a lobed nectary disc. Each lobe is covered with nectarostomata and secretes nectar in the nectar chambers.[6] The flowers are bell-shaped and white in C. royenii and saucer-shaped and yellow in C. schenckii.

The fruit is an apical-loculicidal capsule.[4][6] Seeds are reticulately sculptured.
Species

Codon royenii L.
Codon schenckii Schinz

References

Weigend, M.; Hilger, H. H. (2014-10-28). "Codonaceae-a newly required family name in Boraginales". Phytotaxa. 10 (1): 26. doi:10.11646/phytotaxa.10.1.3. ISSN 1179-3163.
Luebert, Federico; Cecchi, Lorenzo; Frohlich, Michael W.; Gottschling, Marc; Guilliams, C. Matt; Hasenstab-Lehman, Kristen E.; Hilger, Hartmut H.; Miller, James S.; Mittelbach, Moritz (2016-06-24). "Familial classification of the Boraginales" (PDF). Taxon. 65 (3): 502–522. doi:10.12705/653.5.
taxonomy. "Taxonomy browser (Codon)". www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Retrieved 2021-07-23.
Weigend, M.; Hilger, H. H. (2016). Flowering Plants. Eudicots. The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Springer, Cham. pp. 137–140. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-28534-4_9. ISBN 9783319285320.
Weigend, Maximilian; Luebert, Federico; Gottschling, Marc; Couvreur, Thomas L.P.; Hilger, Hartmut H.; Miller, James S. (2014-10-01). "From capsules to nutlets—phylogenetic relationships in the Boraginales". Cladistics. 30 (5): 508–518. doi:10.1111/cla.12061. ISSN 1096-0031. S2CID 11954615.
Jeiter, Julius; Danisch, Fränze; Hilger, Hartmut H. (2016). "Polymery and nectary chambers in Codon (Codonaceae): Flower and fruit development in a small, capsule-bearing family of Boraginales". Flora - Morphology, Distribution, Functional Ecology of Plants. 220: 94–102. doi:10.1016/j.flora.2016.02.010.