Mollia

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

Superregnum: Eukaryota
Regnum: Plantae
Cladus: Angiosperms
Cladus: Eudicots
Cladus: Core eudicots
Cladus: Rosids
Cladus: Eurosids II
Ordo: Malvales

Familia: Malvaceae
Subfamilia: Grewioideae
Tribus: Grewieae
Genus: Mollia
Species: M. burchellii – M. cuneata – M. glabrescens – M. globularis – M. gracilis – M. grandiflora – M. lepidota – M. longifolia – M. lucens – M. macrophylla – M. nitida – M. paraensis – M. speciosa – M. tomentosa – M. ulei – M. williamsii
Name

Mollia Mart., Nov. Gen. Sp. Pl. (Martius) 1(4): 96. (1826), nom. cons.

Type species: Mollia speciosa Mart., Nov. Gen. Sp. Pl. (Martius) 1(4): 97, t. 60. (1826)

Synonyms

Heterotypic
Schlechtendalia Spreng. (1827) vide Schlechtendalia Less., (1830) nom. cons. (Asteraceae)

Homonyms

Mollia J.F.Gmel., Syst. Nat., ed. 13[bis]. 2(1): 420 (1791) vide Baeckea L. (Myrtaceae)
Mollia Willd., Hort. Berol. [Willdenow] 1(1): 11 (1803), nom. illeg. hom. vide Polycarpaea Lam. (Caryophyllaceae)
Mollia Schrank ex Borkh., Tent. Disp. Pl. German., op. posth. 152. (1809) nom. illeg. hom. see earlier names Tortula Hedw. & Barbula Hedw. (Pottiaceae)

References

Martius, C.F.P von 1826. Nova Genera et Species Plantarum quas in Itinere... Munchen 1(4): 96.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2020. Mollia in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published online. Accessed: 2020 Dec. 26. Reference page.
Hassler, M. 2020. Mollia. 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 online. Accessed: 2020 Dec. 26. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2020. Mollia. Published online. Accessed: Dec. 26 2020.
Tropicos.org 2020. Mollia. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published online. Accessed: 26 Dec. 2020.

Mollia is a genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Malvaceae.[1] It is within the Grewioideae subfamily,[2] and the Grewieae tribe.[3]

Description

Mollia are large trees,[4] or tall shrubs,[5] growing up to 15 metres (49 ft) tall.[4]

They have 3-veined from the base leaves which have serrated, toothed (dentate) or smooth margins.[4][5] The indumentum (surface covering) has stellate hairs and pelate scales. They have rudimentary (or small) stipules (a small appendage at the bases of leaves),[5] which are caducous (fall off early).[4]

It has inflorescences in few- to many flowered units, sometimes on a common peduncle (stalk), or solitary flowers. They are showy and white. The sepals are narrow with the petals being truncate and glandless. The stamens are numerous, in 2 whorls each of 5 phalanges with basally fused filaments (stamen stalks), the outer whorl is antesepalous and longer than the inner.[5]

The anthers are introrse (with opening toward the centre of flower), subasifixed, diamorphic (having two different forms), in outer whorl they are cordate at base and in the inner whorl, they are sagittate (arrow-head shaped).[5]

The ovary is 2 locular, or incompletely so. The ovules are 2 seriate (arranged in rows) in each locule and numerous. The style is filiform (needle-like) and the stigma is punctiform (dot-like).[5] The fruit capsule is 2 locular (or bivalved),[4][5] brown when mature and one centimetre (0.39 in) in diameter.[4] The capsule is also loculicidal (splits along an edge), globose or compressed contrary to the septum and sometimes winged along the line of dehiscence (splitting edge). The loculi, each with two rows of 8–20 flattened seeds and fitting between narrow membranous partitions.[5]

The seeds are short winged,[5] various per fruit, plants pubescent.[4] The embryo (inside the seed) is flat, endosperm copious and oily.[5]
Taxonomy

The genus name of Mollia is in honour of Karl von Moll (1760–1838), an Austrian naturalist and statesman.[6] The genus was first described and published in Nov. Gen. Sp. Pl. Bras. Vol.1 on page 96 in 1826.[1]

The genus is recognized by the United States Department of Agriculture and the Agricultural Research Service, but they do not list any known species.[7]

In the 1800's the genus was once placed within the family Tiliaceae,[8] It was returned in the Malvales family in 1935.[9]

It was placed within Grewioidaee subfamily due to molecular data (phospholipase gene) Blatter (unpulished source), but another author, Meijer thought it to be related to the Trichospermum genus due to similar capsule shapes.[5][10]

The genus has been studied in 2021 and the various synonyms have been determined.[11]
Range and habitat

Its native range is southern Tropical America,[4][12] and it is found in Bolivia, (northern, north-eastern and west central) Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Guyana,[5] Peru and Venezuela.[1]

It is found in the savannah forests of Cerrado, Brazil.[13]
Known species

about 18 species known,[5] According to Kew:[1]

Mollia burchellii Sprague
Mollia cuneata Baehni
Mollia glabrescens Benth.
Mollia globularis Meijer
Mollia gracilis Spruce ex Benth.
Mollia grandiflora Meijer
Mollia lepidota Spruce ex Benth.
Mollia longifolia Spruce ex Benth.
Mollia lucens Baehni
Mollia macrophylla Killip & Cuatrec.
Mollia nitida Ducke
Mollia paraensis Baehni
Mollia speciosa Mart.
Mollia tomentosa Spruce ex Benth.
Mollia ulei Burret
Mollia williamsii Baehni

Mollia glabrescens Benth. and Mollia nitida Ducke are listed by IUCN as 'Vulnerable'.[14]
References

"Mollia Mart. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 7 October 2021.
Mambrín, Mónica V.; Avanza, María M.; Ferrucci, María S. (2010). "Morphological and morphometrical pollen analy- sis of Corchorus, Heliocarpus, Luehea, Mollia and Triumfetta (Malvaceae, Grewioideae) in southern South America". Darwiniana. Nueva Serie. 48 (1).
Muellner-Riehl, Alexandra; Brunken, Ulrike (July 2012). "A new tribal classification of Grewioideae (Malvaceae) based on morphology and molecular phylogenetic evidence". Systematic Botany. 37 (3).
Fernando Cornejo and John Janovec Seeds of Amazonian Plants (2010), p. 141, at Google Books
Klaus Kubitzki and Clemens Bayer (editors) The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants - Flowering Plants · Dicotyledons: Malvales, Capparales and Non-betalain ..., p. 255, at Google Books
Burkhardt, Lotte (2018). Verzeichnis eponymischer Pflanzennamen – Erweiterte Edition [Index of Eponymic Plant Names – Extended Edition] (pdf) (in German). Berlin: Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum, Freie Universität Berlin. doi:10.3372/epolist2018. ISBN 978-3-946292-26-5. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
"Genus Mollia Mart". npgsweb.ars-grin.gov. Retrieved 27 November 2021.
John Lindley A Natural System of Botany, Or, A Systematic View of the Organization ... (1830–1836) , p. PA500, at Google Books
Edlin, L. (15 May 1935). "A Critical Revision of Certain Taxonomic Groups of the Malvales. Part II H.". The New Phytologist. 34 (2): 122–143.
Meijer, Mem. N.Y. Bot Gard. 29, 68-82, 1978
Costa, Maria Tereza Rodrigues; Bovini, Massimo G.; Guimarães, Elsie Franklin (September 2021). "Nomenclatural synopsis and typifications in Mollia (Malvaceae: Grewioideae)". Brittonia. doi:10.1007/s12228-021-09681-w.
M.M. Grandtner and Julien Chevrette Dictionary of Trees, Volume 2: South America: Nomenclature, Taxonomy and Ecology (2013), p. 417, at Google Books
Maciel, Everton A.; Oliveira-Filho, Ary T.; Eisenloh, Pedro V. (July–December 2016). "Prioritizing rare tree species of the Cerrado-Amazon ecotone: warnings and insights emerging from a comprehensive transitional zone of South America Author links open overlay panel". Natureza & Conservação. 14 (2): 74–82.
"The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Retrieved 6 December 2021.