Under Construction

Acanthopsis

Lucinda A. McDade and Carrie Kiel
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window

Note: this taxon list is still under construction. It does not yet contain all known Acanthopsis subgroups.

The list above includes only taxa that were sampled by McDade et al. (2005).  There are a few other species of Acanthopsis that likely belong to this clade but this needs to be confirmed with further study.
Containing group: Acantheae

Introduction

The small southern African genus Acanthopsis is monophyletic in phylogenetic studies to date (McDade et al. 2005).  These plants have unusual bracts with 3-5 apical spines that are themselves spinescent and branched hygroscopic trichomes on the seeds.  Although phylogenetic results based on DNA data place Acanthopsis sister to Acanthus, we do not know of morphological data that support this relationship.  Indeed, the fact that Acanthopsis and Blepharis have unusual branched hygroscopic trichomes on their seeds (the seeds of Acanthus are glabrous or puberulous) would suggest a closer relationship between the former two genera than is supported by our results.

References

McDade, L. A., T. F. Daniel, C. A. Kiel, and K. Vollesen. 2005. Phylogenetic relatinships among Acantheae (Acanthaceae): Major lineages present contrasting patterns of molecular evolution and morphological differentiation. Systematic Botany 30: 834-862.

Title Illustrations
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Click on an image to view larger version & data in a new window
Scientific Name Acanthopsis sp. Harv.
Location South Africa
Specimen Condition Live Specimen
Copyright ©
About This Page


Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, Claremont, California, USA

Carrie Kiel
Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden

Correspondence regarding this page should be directed to Lucinda A. McDade at and Carrie Kiel at

All Rights Reserved.

Citing this page:

McDade, Lucinda A. and Carrie Kiel. 2006. Acanthopsis. Version 13 September 2006 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Acanthopsis/52311/2006.09.13 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/

edit this page
close box

This page is a Tree of Life Branch Page.

Each ToL branch page provides a synopsis of the characteristics of a group of organisms representing a branch of the Tree of Life. The major distinction between a branch and a leaf of the Tree of Life is that each branch can be further subdivided into descendent branches, that is, subgroups representing distinct genetic lineages.

For a more detailed explanation of the different ToL page types, have a look at the Structure of the Tree of Life page.

close box

Acanthopsis

Page Content

articles & notes

collections

people

Explore Other Groups

random page

  go to the Tree of Life home page
top