Afrocirsium is a genus of flowering plants in the sunflower family, Asteraceae. It includes three species of thistles native to the mountains of eastern tropical Africa.[1]

Afrocirsium
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Asterales
Family: Asteraceae
Subfamily: Carduoideae
Tribe: Cardueae
Subtribe: Carduinae
Genus: Afrocirsium
Calleja, N.Garcia, Moreyra & Susanna (2023)
Type species
Afrocirsium schimperi
(Vatke) Calleja, N.Garcia, Moreyra & Susanna[2]
Species[1]

They are spiny perennial herbs growing 0.5 to 2.5 meters tall. They have the plumose pappus characteristic of genus Cirsium, but have distinct characteristics like phyllaries with well-developed pectinate appendages which are not present in Cirsium and the other genera in the Carduus-Cirsium group.[2]

All are native to Afromontane or Afroalpine regions of eastern tropical Africa between 1,600 and 4,600 meters elevation,[2] ranging from South Sudan and Ethiopia to Zambia.[1]

The species now placed in genus Afrocirsium were previously placed in genus Cirsium. The sub-Saharan African species have morphological and karyological features of genera Carduus and Cirsium. A phylogenetic study by Moreyra et al. concluded that these African species formed a clade distinct from Carduus and Cirsium, and sister to the newly described genus Afrocarduus.[2]

Species

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Three species are accepted.[1][2]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Afrocirsium Calleja, N.Garcia, Moreyra & Susanna. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 7 June 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e Moreyra, Lucía D., Núria Garcia-Jacas, Cristina Roquet, Jennifer R. Ackerfield, Turan Arabacı, Carme Blanco-Gavaldà, Christian Brochmann, Juan Antonio Calleja, Tuncay Dirmenci, Kazumi Fujikawa, and et al. 2023. African Mountain Thistles: Three New Genera in the Carduus-Cirsium Group. Plants 12, no. 17: 3083. https://doi.org/10.3390/plants12173083