Medusandra

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Ordo: Saxifragales

Familia: Peridiscaceae
Genus: Medusandra
Species: M. richardsiana
Name

Medusandra Brenan
References

Kew Bull. 1952, 228
USDA, ARS, Germplasm Resources Information Network. Medusandra in the Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN), U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service. Accessed: 08-Apr-12.

Medusandra is a genus of flowering plants in the family Peridiscaceae.[1] It has two species, Medusandra richardsiana and Medusandra mpomiana.[2] M. richardsiana is the most common and well known. Both species are native to Cameroon and adjacent countries.[3]

Medusandra was named by John Brenan in 1952.[4] Brenan put Medusandra in its own family, Medusandraceae, and added Soyauxia to that family in 1953.[5] Most authors, however, maintained Medusandraceae as a monogeneric family and put Soyauxia elsewhere.[6][7] A detailed description of Medusandra was published by John Hutchinson in 1973.[6]

When the APG II system was published by the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group in 2003, Medusandra and Soyauxia were listed in an appendix as "taxa of uncertain position".[8] The first molecular phylogenetic study to include Medusandra appeared in 2009.[9] It showed that Medusandra is sister to a clade consisting of Soyauxia, Peridiscus, and by implication, Whittonia. These three genera are in Peridiscaceae,[10] and the authors, Kenneth Wurdack and Charles Davis, recommended that Medusandra be added to Peridiscaceae. When the APG III system was published in October 2009, Peridiscaceae was expanded to include Medusandra and Soyauxia.[11]
References

"Peridiscaceae" At: Peter F. Stevens (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. At: Missouri Botanical Garden Website. (see external links below)
"Medusandra" At: International Plant Names Index. (see External links below).
Vernon H. Heywood, Richard K. Brummitt, Ole Seberg, and Alastair Culham. Flowering Plant Families of the World. Firefly Books: Ontario, Canada. (2007).
John P.M. Brenan. 1952. "Plants of the Cambridge Expedition, 1947-1948: II. A new order of flowering plants from the British Cameroons". Kew Bulletin 7:227-236.
John P.M. Brenan. 1953. "Soyauxia, a second genus of Medusandraceae". Kew Bulletin 8:507-511.
John Hutchinson. The Families of Flowering Plants, Third Edition (1973). Oxford University Press: London.
Arthur John Cronquist. 1981. An Integrated System of Classification of Flowering Plants. Columbia University Press: New York, NY, USA.
The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. 2003. "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG II". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 141(4):399-436. (see External links below).
Kenneth J. Wurdack and Charles C. Davis. 2009. "Malpighiales phylogenetics: Gaining ground on one of the most recalcitrant clades in the angiosperm tree of life." American Journal of Botany 96(8):1551-1570.
Clemens Bayer. 2007. "Peridiscaceae" pages 297-300. In: Klaus Kubitski (editor). The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants volume IX. Springer-Verlag: Berlin;Heidelberg, Germany.
Angiosperm Phylogeny Group. 2009. "An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III". Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 161(2):105-121. (see External links below).