Vangueria

Vangueria
Vangueria parvifolia Sond.
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Rubiaceae
Subfamily: Dialypetalanthoideae
Tribe: Vanguerieae
Genus: Vangueria
Juss. (1789)
Type species
Vangueria madagascariensis
Synonyms

Vangueria is a genus of flowering plants in the family Rubiaceae. The genus is named for Voa vanguer, as V. madagascariensis is known in Malagasy.[1]

Distribution

The genus contains over 50 species distributed in Africa south of the Sahara with one species occurring in Madagascar (V. madagascariensis). The centre of diversity is in East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania) and they are rare in West Africa.

Bacterial leaf symbiosis

Endophytic bacteria are housed in the intercellular space of the leaf mesophyll tissue. The presence of these bacteria can only be microscopically ascertained. The bacteria are identified as Burkholderia, which is a genus that is also found in the leaves of other Rubiaceae species.[2][3] The hypothesis is that these endophytic bacteria provide chemical protection against insect herbivory.[4]

Gousiekte

Several Vangueria species - V. latifolia, V. pygmaea, V. thamnus - are known to cause gousiekte, a cardiotoxicosis of ruminants characterised by heart failure four to eight weeks after ingestion of certain rubiaceous plants.[5]

Taxonomy

The genus was firist described by Antoine Laurent de Jussieu in 1789.[6]

Species in the former genus Tapiphyllum were sunk into synonymy Vangueria when a 2005 molecular phylogenetic study showed that the type species, Tapiphyllum cinerascens, is more closely related to Vangueria than to Tapiphyllum obtusifolium and Tapiphyllum velutinum, and that the latter two were not distinct from Vangueria.[7]

Species

References

  1. ^ Thomas, Val; Rina Grant (2001). Sappi tree spotting : Highlands : Highveld, Drakensberg, Eastern Cape mountains (3rd ed.). Johannesburg: Jacana. p. 262. ISBN 978-1-77009-561-8.
  2. ^ Verstraete B, Janssens S, Smets E, Dessein S (2013). "Symbiotic beta-proteobacteria beyond legumes: Burkholderia in Rubiaceae". PLOS ONE. 8 (1): e55260. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0055260. PMC 3555867. PMID 23372845.
  3. ^ Verstraete B, Janssens S, Lemaire B, Smets E, Dessein S (2013). "Phylogenetic lineages in Vanguerieae (Rubiaceae) associated with Burkholderia bacteria in sub-Saharan Africa". American Journal of Botany. 100 (12): 2380–2387. doi:10.3732/ajb.1300303. PMID 24275705.
  4. ^ Sieber S, Carlier A, Neuburger M, Grabenweger G, Eberl L, Gademann K (2015). "Isolation and total synthesis of kirkamide, an aminocyclitol from an obligate leaf nodule symbiont" (PDF). Angewandte Chemie International Edition. 54 (27): 7968–7970. doi:10.1002/anie.201502696. PMID 26033226.
  5. ^ Verstraete B, Van Elst D, Steyn H, Van Wyk B, Lemaire B, Smets E, Dessein S (2011). "Endophytic Bacteria in Toxic South African Plants: Identification, Phylogeny and Possible Involvement in Gousiekte". PLOS ONE. 6 (4): e19265. Bibcode:2011PLoSO...619265V. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0019265. PMC 3082559. PMID 21541284.
  6. ^ Vangueria Juss. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 10 December 2023.
  7. ^ Lantz H, Bremer B (2005). "Phylogeny of the complex Vanguerieae (Rubiaceae) genera Fadogia, Rytigynia, and Vangueria with close relatives and a new circumscription of Vangueria". Plant Systematics and Evolution. 253 (1–4): 159–183. Bibcode:2005PSyEv.253..159L. doi:10.1007/s00606-005-0313-9. S2CID 30867982.