Goeppertia

Goeppertia
Goeppertia burle-marxii
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Monocots
Clade:	Commelinids
Order:	Zingiberales
Family:	Marantaceae
Genus:	Goeppertia Nees, 1831
Species
See text
Synonyms
Endocodon Raf. Monostiche Körn. Psydaranta Neck. ex Raf. Thymocarpus Nicolson, Steyerm. & Sivad. Zelmira Raf.

Goeppertia is a genus of flowering plants in the family Marantaceae, native to the New World Tropics. It contains 246 accepted species, many of which were until recently assigned to Calathea.

Earlier taxonomic work

It was first described by Nees von Esenbeck in 1831, who erroneously erected another genus Goeppertia in 1836, which has now been synonymized with Endlicheria. In 1862 August Grisebach described another genus Goeppertia; this has now been synonymized with Bisgoeppertia. The genus name of Goeppertia is in honour of Heinrich Göppert (1800–1884), a German botanist and paleontologist.

The type species of Goeppertia was Goeppertia zebrina, in 1831, which had been described originally as Maranta zebrina, in 1817 by Sims and transferred to Goeppertia by Nees.

The original genus counted species such as Maranta bicolor, which Nees transferred to Goeppertia as G.bicolor (now synonym of Maranta cristata); Maranta spicata, which he transferred to Goeppertia as G.spicata (now Monotagma spicatum); or Goepperita blanda (now unplaced, not an accepted taxon).

Most of the species composing the old Goeppertia genus were then moved to different genera and the name Goeppertia was not retained in later work.

Later taxonomic treatment

The genus was resurrected in 2012 after a molecular study by Finn Borchsenius, Luz Stella Suarez and Linda Marie (Prince) MacKechnie on the genus Calathea , which had been discovered to be polyphyletic. Earlier studies like the molecular sampling by L.Andersson in 2001 already had shown that the genus was thought to be paraphyletic , but lacked taxon sampling to support an actual redefinition.

The 2012 studies showed that the broad Calathea genus had two, major, evolutionary lineage and needed to be reconsidered. The first included subgenus Calathea, the C.Lanicaulis group and the Sanblasia genus, while the second formed a strongly supported group.

As the type species for the Calathea genus was Calathea casupo (now synonym for Calathea lutea), the first evolutionnary lineage which included Calathea lutea was considered as the newly defined, Calathea taxon. The genus Goeppertia was brought back to include the rest of the taxa from the other lineage. As the type species was Maranta zebrina (Goeppertia zebrina by Nees in 1831), Calathea zebrina and related groups were moved into a newly defined Goeppertia taxon.

Morphologic characters

In the 2012 work, Finn Borchsenius proposed a new definition for both taxa, including a new Goeppertia one.

He describes Goeppertia as plants with basal and/or cauline leaves. With green or patterned leaves, which sometimes only show on juvenile specimen. With spirally arranged bracts and flowers with one outer staminode and an ovary with three fertile locules. The fruit has 3 seeds with a white aril. Their range is from Mexico and Caribbean islands to Argentina and Paraguay.

Major clades

Borchsenius, Suarez and Prince (2012) identified six major clades within the Goeppertia genus using molecular phylogenetic sampling. These clades were supporting or demistifying informal groups that were recognized in earlier taxonomic treatments by experts such as Helen Kennedy or Schumann. The Comosae clade, which includes both of the old informal C.capitata group and the Comosae group. The Breviscapus clade, which included informal groups such as Nudiscapae, Breviscapus or subgenus Macropus. The Microcephalum clade, which included the old informal Microcephalum group. The Scapifoliae clade, which included the informal C.marantifolia group. The Ornata clade, which included the old C.ornata group. And lastly the Straminea clade, a new clade suggested for some species such as Calathea straminea, Calathea zingiberina or Calathea cannoides.

Only the species that have been sampled to this day can be applied to one of the clades.

Taxa that were sampled and the clade they belong to from the 2012 molecular sampling.

Species

The following species are accepted:

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Goeppertia.