Montinia
Montinia caryophyllacea, Western Cape, South Africa
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Solanales
Family: Montiniaceae
Genus: Montinia
Thunb.
Species:
M. caryophyllacea
Binomial name
Montinia caryophyllacea
Thunb.
Synonyms
  • Montinia acris L.f.
  • Montinia fruticosa Gaertn.

Montinia is a monotypic genus of flowering plants belonging to the family Montiniaceae.[2] It only contains one known species, Montinia caryophyllacea Thunb. [3][4]

Its native range is Southern Africa. It is found in Angola, Botswana, the Cape Provinces (of South Africa) and Namibia.[3] It grows on dry, rocky, sandstone or granite slopes.[5]

Description

It is an upright, greyish, dioecious shrublet. It has male and female flowers on separate plants. It grows up to 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) tall. It has leathery, elliptical shaped and sometimes tufted leaves.[5] They are 15–70 mm (1–3 in) long, pale green, smooth and have a dull, waxy coating.[6] It blossoms between May and October and bears small waxy,[6] white flowers, either in loose clusters on the male plants or 1 or 2 flowers on the females plants. The flowers have 4 petals.[5] After flowering, the plant produces an ovoid shaped,[6] seed capsule or 'fruit', which is often dry and brown, and shuttle-shaped.[5] It is 15–20 mm (1–1 in) long.[6] The husk splits into 2 halves to release the seeds. Small flatten discs with membranous wings.[5]

Taxonomy

It has several Afrikaans common names: such as Bergklapper, Bergklapperbos, Bergklapperbossie, Donkiebos, Klokkiesbos, Peperbos, Peperbossie, Perdebos, Wildenaeltjiebos[2] and T'iena. It also has a couple of English common names, Wild clove-bush and Pepperbush.[6]

The genus name of Montinia is in honour of Lars Jonasson Montin (1723–1785), a Swedish botanist and doctor in Lund and Halland. He had maintained a large herbarium and was a student of Carl Linnaeus.[7] The Latin specific epithet of caryophyllacea refers to karyophyllon, the Greek word for Clove. It was first described and published in Physiogr. Sälsk. Handl. Vol.1 on pages 108–109 in 1776.[3]

References

  1. ^ "SANBI Red List of South African Plants". South African National Biodiversity Institute Threatened Species Programme. Retrieved 2022-04-14.
  2. ^ a b "Montinia Thunb. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 18 May 2021.
  3. ^ a b c "Montinia caryophyllacea Thunb. | Plants of the World Online | Kew Science". Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  4. ^ "Montinia caryophyllacea | /RHS Gardening". www.rhs.org.uk. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d e "Montinia caryophyllacea". www.fernkloof.org.za. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  6. ^ a b c d e "Kyffhäuser flora – Montinia caryophyllacea". www.kyffhauser.co.za. Retrieved 27 October 2021.
  7. ^ 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.
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