Canephora

This article is about flowering plants. For the bagworm moth genus including e.g. Canephora hirsuta, see Canephora (moth). For the ancient Greek honorific, see Kanephoros.
Canephora
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Asterids
Order: Gentianales
Family: Rubiaceae
Subfamily: Ixoroideae
Tribe: Octotropideae
Genus: Canephora
Juss.
Type species
Canephora madagascariensis
J.F.Gmel.

Canephora is a genus of flowering plants in the Rubiaceae family, indigenous to Madagascar.[1][2]

Description

The name Canephora, "basket bearer", refers to both the flattened peduncle topped by a "hollowed apex bearing flowers" and to the ritual office for unmarried young women in ancient Greece, as bearer of a sacred basket full of offerings during processions at festivals.[3]

Canephora is unique in Rubiaceae in having peduncles transformed into flattened, green axes called phylloclades.[4]

Canephora madagascariensis has bright white, campanulate flowers and apparently edible, red fruits, locally known as "hazongalala".[5]

Species

Currently, five species are recognized, but several new species await description.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Antoine Laurent de Jussieu. 1789. Genera Plantarum 208, Canephora
  2. ↑ "Canephora in the World Checklist of Rubiaceae". Retrieved June 2014. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  3. ↑ Roccos JL (1995). "The kanephoros and her festival mantle in Greek art". American Journal of Archaeology. 99 (4): 641–666. doi:10.2307/506187.
  4. 1 2 De Block P, Vrijdaghs A (2013). "Development of reproductive organs in Canephora madagascariensis (Octotropideae - Rubiaceae)". Plant Ecology and Evolution. 146 (3): 310–327. doi:10.5091/plecevo.2013.844.
  5. ↑ Seligson D (1972). "On collecting herbs in Madagascar". Arnoldia. 32: 23–29.
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