Pterophylla is a genus of trees of the family Cunoniaceae, with species found growing naturally in Madagascar, Malesia, Papuasia, and the Pacific Islands, formerly included in Weinmannia.

Pterophylla
Flowers and leaves of towai (Pterophylla sylvicola)
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Oxalidales
Family: Cunoniaceae
Genus: Pterophylla
D.Don

Range and habitat edit

Species of Pterophylla are native to Madagascar and the Comoro Islands, and to Malesia (Peninsular Thailand and Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo, Java, the Lesser Sunda Islands, Sulawesi, Maluku, and the Philippines), Papuasia (New Guinea, the Bismarck Archipelago, and Solomon Islands), Vanuatu, New Caledonia, New Zealand, and parts of Oceania (Fiji, Cook Islands, Marquesas Islands, Samoa Islands, Society Islands, and Tubuai Islands).[1]

Species of Pterophylla grow in lowland tropical forests in Madagascar, and generally in hill and montane tropical forests on the larger islands of Malesia and the Pacific. They are absent from Oceania's low coraline islands, but can be abundant on the higher volcanic islands from 300 to 750+ metres elevation. They are also found in subtropical and temperate forest in New Zealand between 300 and 1180 metres elevation.[2]

Classification edit

The genus was first described by David Don in 1830.[1] It is often treated as a synonym of Weinmannia.[3]

A phylogenomic study by Pillon et al. (2021) concluded that Weinmannia was paraphyletic, and formed two distinct clades. The species belonging to the four Old World sections – Fasciculatae, Inspersae, Spicatae, and Leiospermum – formed a monophyletic group, which is sister to the Old World genera Cunonia and Pancheria. Section Weinmannia, which includes species from the Americas and the Mascarene Islands, is sister to the Old World assemblage. They proposed placing the four Old World sections into the revived genus Pterophylla, with genus Weinmannia limited to the American and Mascarene species of section Weinmannia.[4]

Species edit

There are 68 accepted species,[1] which are divided among four sections – Pterophylla (formerly Fasciculatae), Leiospermum, Spicatae, and Inspersae.[4]

sect. Pterophylla edit

(mostly Malesia and Papuasia, from Sumatra to Fiji)[5][4]

sect. Leiospermum (D.Don) Pillon & H.C.Hopkins edit

(mostly Pacific, from the Bismarck Archipelago to the Marquesas)[5][4]

sect. Spicatae (Bernardi ex J.Bradford) Pillon & H.C.Hopkins edit

(Madagascar and the Comoros)[5][4]

sect. Inspersae (Bernardi ex J.Bradford) Pillon & H.C.Hopkins edit

(Madagascar)[5][4]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Pterophylla D.Don Plants of the World Online, Kew Science. Accessed 14 April 2022.
  2. ^ Helen C. F. Hopkins and Jason C. Bradford (1998). A revision of Weinmannia (Cunoniaceae) in Malesia and the Pacific. 1. Introduction and an account of the species of Western Malesia, the Lesser Sunda Islands and the Moluccas. Adansonia, volume 20, issue 1, pages 5-41, 1998.
  3. ^ Pterophylla D.Don The World Flora Online. Accessed 26 September 2022.
  4. ^ a b c d e f Pillon, Y., H. C. F. Hopkins, O. Maurin, N. Epitawalage, J. Bradford, Z. S. Rogers, W. J. Baker, and F. Forest. 2021. Phylogenomics and biogeography of Cunoniaceae (Oxalidales) with complete generic sampling and taxonomic realignments. American Journal of Botany 108(7): 1181–1200.
  5. ^ a b c d Bradford, J.C. (1998) A cladisitc analysis of species groups in Weinmannia (Cunoniaceae) based on morphology and inflorescence structure. Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden 85 (4): 565‑93.