Tetragonia

Life-forms

Classification System: APG IV

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

Familia: Aizoaceae
Subfamilia: Aizooideae
Genus: Tetragonia
Species: T. acanthocarpa – T. angustifolia – T. arbuscula – T. caesia – T. calycina – T. chenopodioides – T. copiapina – T. coronata – T. cristata – T. crystallina – T. decumbens – T. dimorphantha – T. diptera – T. distorta – T. echinata – T. erecta – T. eremaea – T. espinosae – T. fruticosa – T. galenioides – T. glauca – T. haworthii – T. herbacea – T. hirsuta – T. implexicoma – T. lasiantha – T. macrocarpa – T. macroptera – T. maritima – T. microcarpa – T. microptera – T. moorei – T. namaquensis – T. nigrescens – T. ovata – T. pedunculata – T. pentandra – T. pillansii – T. portulacoides – T. rangeana – T. reduplicata – T. robusta – T. rosea – T. saligna – T. sarcophylla – T. sphaerocarpa – T. spicata – T. tetragonoides – T. verrucosa – T. vestita – T. virgata

Source(s) of checklist:

Hassler, M. 2018. Tetragonia (Aizoaceae). 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. 2018. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2018 Jul. 14. Reference page.

Name

Tetragonia L., 1753
References

Linnaeus, C. 1753. Species Plantarum. Tomus I: 480. Reference page.

Links

Hassler, M. 2018. Tetragonia. 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. 2018. Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2018 Jul. 14. Reference page.
International Plant Names Index. 2018. Tetragonia. Published online. Accessed: Jul. 14 2018.
Govaerts, R. et al. 2018. Tetragonia in Kew Science Plants of the World online. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2018 Jul. 14. Reference page.
Klak, C., Hanáček, P. & Bruyns, P.V. 2017. Disentangling the Aizooideae: New generic concepts and a new subfamily in Aizoaceae. Taxon 66(5): 1147–1170. DOI: 10.12705/665.9 Paywall JSTOR Hybrid open access journal Reference page.
Tropicos.org 2018. Tetragonia. Missouri Botanical Garden. Published on the internet. Accessed: 2018 Jul. 14.
Global Biodiversity Information Facility. 2019. GBIF Backbone Taxonomy. Checklist dataset. Taxon: Tetragonia (Aizoaceae). .

Vernacular names
English: New Zealand spinach, warrigal greens
suomi: Lamopinaatit
français: Tétragones
lietuvių: Špinokas
Nederlands: Nieuwzeelandse spinazie
polski: Trętwian
svenska: Tetragonior

Tetragonia is a genus of about 85 species[1] of flowering plants in the family Aizoaceae, native to temperate and subtropical regions mostly of the Southern Hemisphere, in New Zealand, Australia, southern Africa and South America.

Description

Plants of the genus Tetragonia are herbs or small shrubs. Leaves are alternate and succulent,[2] with flowers typically yellow and small in size. Flowers can be axillary, solitary or fasciculate, greenish or yellowish in colour and mostly bisexual.[1] Fruit are initially succulent but become dry and woody with age. The genus name comes from "tetragonus", meaning "four-angled" and referring to the shape of the plants' fruits.[3]
Distribution

About 40 species of Tetragonia are found in southern Africa.[1] They also occur in southern Australia.[4]
Classification

The genus was first formally described by the botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1753 in the work Species Plantarum.[4] Synonyms for the genus include Tetragonocarpos Mill., Demidovia Pall., and Tetragonella Miq.
Human use and cultivation

The best known species of Tetragonia is the leafy vegetable food crop, Tetragonia tetragonoides ("New Zealand spinach") New Zealand spinach is widely cultivated as a summer leafy vegetable.

Some of the other species are also eaten locally, such as Tetragonia decumbens ("Dune spinach") which is a local delicacy in its native southern Africa.[5]

References

"2403.000 Tetragonia L." Flora of Zimbabwe: Cultivated plants. 2002. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
"Tetragonia". FloraBase. Western Australian Government Department of Parks and Wildlife.
Beadle, N.C.W., Part II, Students Flora of North Eastern New South Wales, University of New England, 1972, ISBN 0-85834-040-2.
"Tetragonia L." Atlas of Living Australia. Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Retrieved 21 January 2017.
http://www.plantzafrica.com/planttuv/tetragondec.htm