Genus of the Month
January
This page has been created for people who want to learn more about plants, especially in the
context of their taxonomy (Latin names, etc.). This is by no means an exhaustive list of
all available Web resources for a particular genus.
If you like this page, you might also want to visit the Land of the Glandular Trichomes
, a microscopic look at plants in the Lamiaceae family. Also, you can see my contribution to the
Conservation New England web site, entitled
"The Introduction of Non-Native Plants into Massachusetts".
This month's genus:
Nolana
Subclass: Dicotyledoneae
Superorder: Asteridae
Order: Polemoniales
Family: Nolanaceae
Number of Species: about 77
Root: ?
Plants in the Nolanaceae family are native to Chile and Peru. However, several Nolana species are grown as ornamental
plants in Europe and likely in other parts of the world as well. Photographs of the flowers in this genus show a strong
resemblance to those in the related Solanaceae family.
Here are a few links to images and descriptions of different Nolana species:
- At the New York Botanical Garden web site you can view a dried herbarium specimen of
N. arenicola.
- You can view the beginning stages of a monograph on the phylogeny of Nolana species,
done by Michael O. Dillon and Miyuki Tago, at the Andean Botanical Information System web site. Several of the species
descriptions are accompanied by photos.
- Click here for more information on
projects involving Nolana species that are ongoing in the Holbrook lab at Harvard University.
References:
- Heywood, V.H., ed. Flowering Plants of the World. New York, Oxford University Press: 1993.
Current Genus of the Week
Jenn's Home Page
Kesseli Lab