Echites

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

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

Familia: Apocynaceae
Subfamilia: Apocynoideae
Tribus: Echiteae
Subtribus: Echitinae
Genus: Echites
Species: E. agglutinatus – E. asperoglottis – E. brevipedunculatus – E. cajalbanicus – E. candelarianus – E. darienensis – E. panduratus – E. puntarenensis – E. speciosissimus – E. turbinatus – E. tuxtlensis – E. umbellatus – E. woodsonianus – E. yucutanensis
Name

Echites P.Browne Civ. Nat. Hist. Jamaica 182. 1756.

Type species: Echites umbellatus Jacq. Enum. Syst. Pl. 13. 1760, as "umbellata"
Lectotype: Tabernaemontana echites L., vide Britton et Millspaugh (1920)

Notes: Melbourne Code Art. 62.4: Generic names ending -ites are treated as masculine, irrespective of the gender assigned to them by the original author.
Synonyms

Heterotypic
Echithes Thunb., Fl. Cap., ed. 1a, 2: 150. 1818, orth. var.
Fernaldia Woodson, Ann. Missouri Bot. Gard. 19: 48. 1932.
Allotoonia J.F.Morales & J.K.Williams, Sida 21: 135. 2004.

Distribution
Native distribution areas:

Northern America
Southeastern U.S.A.
Florida.
Mexico
Mexico Central, Mexico Northeast, Mexico Gulf, Mexico Southwest, Mexico Southeast.
Southern America
Central America
Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama.
Caribbean
Bahamas, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Puerto Rico, Southwest Caribbean, Turks-Caicos Islands.

References: Brummitt, R.K. 2001. TDWG – World Geographical Scheme for Recording Plant Distributions, 2nd Edition
References

Browne, P. 1756. The Civil and Natural History of Jamaica in Three Parts 182.
Britton, N.L. & Millspaugh, C.F. 1920. Bahama Fl. 336. 26.
Morales, J.F. 2009. Estudios en las Apocynaceae neotropicales XXXIX: revisión de las Apocynoideae y Rauvolfioideae de Honduras. Anales del Jardin Botánico de Madrid 66: 217–262.
Morales, J.F. & Williams, J.K. 2004. Allotoonia, a new neotropical genus of Apocynaceae based on a subgeneric segregate of Echites. Sida 21: 133–158.
Morales, J.F., Endress, M.E. & Liede-Schumann, S. 2017. Sex, drugs and pupusas: Disentangling relationships in Echiteae (Apocynaceae). Taxon 66(3): 623–644. DOI: 10.12705/663.7 Paywall ResearchGate Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2017. Echites. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2017 Aug. 14.
Farr, E.R. & Zijlstra, G. (eds.) 1996 onwards. Echites in Index Nominum Genericorum (Plantarum). Accessed: 2009 Dec 23.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2017. Echites in World Checklist of Selected Plant Families. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2017 Aug. 14. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2017. Echites. Published online. Accessed: Aug. 14 2017.

Vernacular names
English: Devils potato

Echites is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1756. It is primarily native to Mexico, Central America, the West Indies, and the US State of Florida.[1][2][3][4][5]

Species

Over 500 names have been published for species, subspecies, and varieties within Echites, but most have been relegated to synonymy or moved to other genera. The following are currently accepted[1]

Echites agglutinatus Jacq. - Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Leeward Islands
Echites brevipedunculatus Lippold - Cuba
Echites cajalbanicus Lippold - Cuba
Echites candelarianus J.F.Morales - Costa Rica
Echites darienensis J.F.Morales - Panama
Echites puntarenensis J.F.Morales - Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica
Echites turbinatus Woodson - Chiapas, Costa Rica, Honduras, Panama
Echites tuxtlensis Standl. - Chiapas, Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras
Echites umbellatus Jacq. - Tabasco, Yucatán Peninsula, Belize, Honduras, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Hispaniola, Jamaica, Leeward Islands, Bahamas, Florida, Turks & Caicos Islands, Colombian islands in the Western Caribbean
Echites woodsonianus Monach. - Michoacán, Guerrero, Chiapas, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica
Echites yucatanensis Millsp. ex Standl. - Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Jalisco, Guerrero, Tabasco, Yucatán Peninsula

References

Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
Davidse, G., M. Sousa Sánchez, S. Knapp & F. Chiang Cabrera. 2009. Cucurbitaceae a Polemoniaceae. 4(1): i–xvi, 1–855. In G. Davidse, M. Sousa Sánchez, S. Knapp & F. Chiang Cabrera (eds.) Flora Mesoamericana. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México.
Morales, F. J. 1997. A reevaluation of Echites and Prestonia sect. Coalitae (Apocynaeae). Brittonia 49(3): 328–336.
Morales, J. F. 2009. La familia Apocynaceae (Apocynoideae, Rauvolfioideae) en Guatemala. Darwiniana 47(1): 140–184.
Biota of North America Program 2013 county distribution map, Echites umbellatus