Murdannia is a genus of annual or perennial monocotyledonous flowering plants in the family Commelinaceae.

Murdannia
Murdannia semiteres in Hyderabad, India
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Monocots
Clade: Commelinids
Order: Commelinales
Family: Commelinaceae
Subfamily: Commelinoideae
Tribe: Commelineae
Genus: Murdannia
Royle (1839)
Type species
M. edulis
Synonyms[1]
  • Anthericopsis Engl. (1895)
  • Aphylax Salisb. (1812), nom. nud.
  • Baoulia A. Chev. (1912)
  • Dichaespermum Wight (1853)
  • Dilasia Raf. (1838)
  • Ditelesia Raf. (1837)
  • Gillettia Rendle (1896)
  • Prionostachys Hassk. (1866)
  • Streptylis Raf. (1838)
  • Talipulia Raf. (1837)

The genus is one of the largest in the family. They are most easily distinguished from other genera in the family by their three-lobed or spear-shaped antherodes (i.e. non-functional anthers).[2] Also it is the only genus with staminodes (i.e. non-functional stamens) opposite the petals.[3]

Murdannia are found in tropical regions across the globe with extensions into warm temperate areas.[4] Typically, Murdannia species are found in open areas in mesic soils. However, some are semi-aquatic, and a limited few are found in closed forest situations. Three species are naturalized in the United States (Murdannia keisak, M. nudiflora and M. spirata).[5][6][7]

The genus is named in honor of Murdan Ali, a plant collector who worked for John Forbes Royle and maintained the herbarium at Saharanpur, India.[6][8] He was a munshi who took a keen interest in natural history and under the training of Falconer, Royle and Edgeworth had become a proficient botanist who compiled a vernacular flora of northern India and the Himalayas which was however never published.[9]

Species[1][4]

References edit

  1. ^ a b Murdannia Royle. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  2. ^ Faden, Robert B. (1998), "Commelinaceae", in Kubitzki, Klaus (ed.), The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants, vol. 4, Berlin: Springer, pp. 109–128, ISBN 978-3-540-64061-5
  3. ^ Evans, Timothy M.; Sytsma, Kenneth J.; Faden, Robert B.; Givnish, Thomas J. (2003), "Phylogenetic Relationships in the Commelinaceae: II. A Cladistic Analysis of rbcL Sequences and Morphology", Systematic Botany, 28 (2): 270–292, doi:10.1043/0363-6445-28.2.270 (inactive 31 January 2024){{citation}}: CS1 maint: DOI inactive as of January 2024 (link) CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  4. ^ a b Kew World Checklist of Selected Plant Families
  5. ^ Shinners, L. H. 1962. Aneilema (Commelinaceae) in the United States. Sida 1: 100--101.
  6. ^ a b Flora of North America v 22 p 190.
  7. ^ Faden, Robert B. 2001. New taxa of Murdannia (Commelinaceae) from Sri Lanka. Novon 11:22-30.
  8. ^ Royle, John Forbes. Illustrations of the Botany ... of the Himalayan Mountains ... 1: 403, pl. 95, f. 3. 1839.
  9. ^ Arnold, David (2005). The Tropics and the Traveling Gaze: India, Landscape, and Science 1800-1856. Orient Blackswan. p. 183.