Edgeworthia (paper bush) is a genus of plants in the family Thymelaeaceae. When the genus was first described, it was published twice in the same year (1841), in two separate publications: Plantarum vascularium genera: secundum ordines naturales digesta eorumque differentiae et affinitates tabulis diagnostacis expositae;[1] and Denkschriften der Regensburgischen Botanischen Gesellschaft.[2] The genus was named in honour of Michael Pakenham Edgeworth, an Irish botanist and official in the Bengal Civil Service, then stationed in India, and for his half-sister, writer Maria Edgeworth.[2]
Trichotomous branching
At least one member of the genus, Edgeworthia chrysantha, has the extremely unusual ability to branch trichotomously - the apical meristem forming the end of each stem splits into three sections at once, leading to its Japanese name mitsumata (三椏, three-fork).[4] This trait is shared with no other known flowering plant.[5]
^ The type species, E. gardneri was taken from its basionym, Daphne gardneri (which was first published in Asiatic Researches 13: 388, pl. 9. 1820.) "Name - Daphne gardneri Wall". Tropicos. Saint Louis, Missouri: Missouri Botanical Garden. Retrieved June 30, 2011.
