Pilea

Pilea, with 600–715 species, is the largest genus of flowering plants in the nettle family Urticaceae, and one of the larger genera in the Urticales.

Pilea
Pilea rotundinucula
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Urticaceae
Tribe: Elatostemateae
Genus: Pilea
Lindl., 1821
Species

See text

It is distributed throughout the tropics, subtropics, and warm temperate regions (with the exception of Australia and New Zealand).

The majority of species are succulent shade-loving herbs or shrubs, which are easily distinguished from other Urticaceae by the combination of opposite leaves (with rare exceptions) with a single ligulate intrapetiolar stipule in each leaf axil and cymose or paniculate inflorescences (again with rare exceptions).

Pilea is of little economic importance; six species have horticultural value (P. cadierei, P. grandifolia, P. involucrata, P. microphylla, P. nummulariifolia, and P. peperomioides),[1] and one species is used in Chinese traditional medicine (P. plataniflora). The genus has attracted little monographic attention since Weddell (1869), and the majority of taxonomic contributions have come from floristic treatments. To date, 787 species names have been published (International Plant Names Index, 2003) and estimates for the species number range from 250 to 1000.[2] Based on previous floristic treatments, about 30% of the species from regions not yet covered by contemporary floristic treatments may be undescribed.

The genus name is derived from Latin pileus, "felt cap", because of the calyx covering the achene.

Species include

Fossil record

The fossil species †Pilea cantalensis was widely distributed in Europe and West Siberia during the Miocene and Pliocene. It is related to the East Asian Pilea mongolica and to the North American Pilea pumila.[3]

References
  1. RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2008. p. 1136. ISBN 978-1405332965.
  2. (C. D. Adams, BM, personal communication).
  3. Łańcucka-Środoniowa M.: Macroscopic plant remains from the freshwater Miocene of the Nowy Sącz Basin (West Carpathians, Poland) [Szczątki makroskopowe roślin z miocenu słodkowodnego Kotliny Sądeckiej (Karpaty Zachodnie, Polska)]. Acta Palaeobotanica 1979 20 (1): 3-117.

Further reading

Data related to Pilea at Wikispecies

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.