Viridivia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Passifloraceae. It only contain one known species, Viridivia suberosa.[1] It is also in the subfamily Passifloroideae and tribe Paropsieae.[2][3]

Viridivia
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Malpighiales
Family: Passifloraceae
Subfamily: Passifloroideae
Tribe: Paropsieae
Genus: Viridivia
J.H.Hemsl. & Verdc.
Species:
V. suberosa
Binomial name
Viridivia suberosa
J.H.Hemsl. & Verdc.

It is native to Zambia and Tanzania.[1] It grows within woodland on rocky outcrops.[4]

Description

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It is a small tree that can grow up to 8 m (26 ft) tall. It has older branches with longitudinally fissured cork-like bark. The young branches are spattered with short, stiff golden-yellow or brown hairs. It has bisexual flowers, which appear before leaves grow. The flower are dense racemes at the end of short branches. They have 4 sepals, which are imbricate (overlapping), sericeous silky with dense appressed hairs) on the outside and 3–7-nerved (or veined). It has 4 petals which are smaller than the sepals and 1-nerved. The corona is a short tubular shape, irregularly fimbriate (fringed) and with clavate (club shaped) whitish glands. It has 10-16 stamens, with the filaments (stamen stalks) free and hairy. The anthers are oblong shaped. It has a globose (round-like shaped) ovary which is stipitate (stalked) with 1-locular (or compartment). It has 4–6 styles with fleshy, kidney-shaped stigmas. It has about 50 ovules. The seed capsule is subglobose shaped and stipitate. Inside the capsule, the seeds are ovoid, compressed, included in a cupulate (cup-shaped) aril (seed coating).[4]

Taxonomy

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In Zambia, it is commonly known as 'mulyansefu'.[4]

The genus name of Viridivia is in honour of Percy James Greenway (1897–1980), South African botanist at the agricultural research station and herbarium in Nairobi, Kenya.[5] Note, the Latin for Green is viridis.[6] The Neo-Latin specific epithet of suberosa means cork-like. Both the genus and the species were first described and published in Hooker's Icon. Pl. Vol.36 on table 3555 in 1956.[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Viridivia J.H.Hemsl. & Verdc. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 13 March 2021.
  2. ^ De Vos, J. M.; Breteler, F. J. (2009). "A REVISION OF THE AFRICAN GENERA PAROPSIOPSIS AND SMEATHMANNIA (PASSIFLORACEAE – PAROPSIEAE), INCLUDING A NEW SPECIES OF PAROPSIOPSIS FROM CAMEROON" (PDF). Edinburgh Journal of Botany. 66 (1): 27–49. doi:10.1017/S0960428609005174.
  3. ^ Armen Takhtajan Flowering Plants (2009), p. 228, at Google Books
  4. ^ a b c "Flora of Zambia: Species information: Viridivia suberosa". www.zambiaflora.com. Retrieved 7 January 2022.
  5. ^ 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. S2CID 187926901. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
  6. ^ "viridis". Wiktionary. 28 December 2021. Retrieved 7 January 2022.