Dombeya

Dombeya
	Pink-ball (Dombeya wallichii) inflorescence
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Clade:	Tracheophytes
Clade:	Angiosperms
Clade:	Eudicots
Clade:	Rosids
Order:	Malvales
Family:	Malvaceae
Subfamily:	Dombeyoideae
Genus:	Dombeya; Cav. (1786)
Species
	Several, see text
Synonyms
	Acropetalum A.Juss. (1849), nom. superfl.; Assonia Cav. (1786); Astrapaea Lindl. (1821); Cavanilla J.F.Gmel. (1792); Hilsenbergia Bojer (1842), nom. illeg.; Leeuwenhoeckia E.Mey. ex Endl. (1839), not validly publ.; Vahlia Dahl (1787), nom. illeg.; Walcuffa J.F.Gmel. (1792); Walkuffa Bruce ex Steud.; Xeropetalum Delile (1826);

Dombeya is a flowering plant genus. Traditionally included in the family Sterculiaceae, it is included in the expanded Malvaceae in the APG and most subsequent systematics. These plants are known by a number of vernacular names which sometimes, misleadingly, allude to the superficial similarity of flowering Dombeya to pears or hydrangeas (which are unrelated). Therefore, the genus as a whole is often simply called dombeyas. The generic name commemorates Joseph Dombey (1742–1794), a French botanist and explorer in South America, involved in the notorious "Dombey affair", embroiling scientists and governments of France, Spain, and Britain for more than two years.

Distribution

These plants grow chiefly throughout Africa and Madagascar. Madagascar has the majority of species, with approximately 175 native species. 19 are found on the African mainland, with one, Dombeya torrida, also extending into the southwestern Arabian Peninsula.^[2] 24 species are native to the Mascarene Islands, of which 23 are endemic to the islands.^[3] Dombeya acutangula is native to east Africa, Madagascar, and the Mascarenes, with a disjunct population in Laos in Southeast Asia.^[4]

Taxonomy

Formerly believed to hold only about 80 species, in the present delimitation, Dombeya is one of the most speciose Malvaceae genera, containing as many as 255 species. Most have been moved here from distinct genera, which are now considered junior synonyms.^[5] Some of these might warrant recognition as subgenera, to show the evolutionary and phylogenetic patterns of the numerous dombeyas more clearly.^[6] In addition to the synonyms listed here, Astiria is suspected to be a rather distinct derivative of Dombeya and would thus have to be included in the present genus.^[6] This requires renaming of species, as A. rosea conflicts with D. rosea, a junior synonym of D. burgessiae. Furthermore, several species have been moved here from related genera that are still valid, namely Pentapetes.^[5]

Dombeya of L'Héritier de Brutelle is a synonym of Tourrettia (Bignoniaceae). Dombeya of Lamarck is a synonym of Araucaria.

Selected species

There are 197 accepted species of Dombeya.^[1] Selected species include:

Dombeya acuminatissima Hochr. – eastern Madagascar
Dombeya acutangula Cav. – Bois Bete, mahot tantan. East Africa (Tanzania to Mozambique), Madagascar, Mascarene Islands, and Laos
Dombeya aethiopica Gilli – Ethiopia
Dombeya albisquama Arènes – central-eastern Madagascar
Dombeya albotomentosa Arènes – central Madagascar
Dombeya alleizettei Arènes – central Madagascar
Dombeya amaniensis Engl. – Tanzania
Dombeya ambalabeensis Arènes – southwestern and southern Madagascar
Dombeya ambatosoratrensis Arènes – central-eastern Madagascar
Dombeya ambohitrensis Arènes – northern Madagascar
Dombeya ambositrensis Arènes – central Madagascar
Dombeya ameliae Guill. – east-central Madagascar
Dombeya amplifolia Arènes – central-eastern Madagascar
Dombeya anakaensis Arènes – southwestern Madagascar
Dombeya andapensis Arènes – central and eastern Madagascar
Dombeya andrahomanensis Arènes – southern Madagascar
Dombeya angustipetala Arènes – eastern Madagascar
Dombeya ankaratrensis Arènes – central Madagascar
Dombeya ankazobeensis Arènes – central Madagascar
Dombeya anonyensis Arènes – central Madagascar
Dombeya antsianakensis Baill. – central and eastern Madagascar
Dombeya apikyensis Arènes – southeastern Madagascar
Dombeya aquifoliopsis Hochr. – eastern Madagascar
Dombeya asymmetrica Appleq. – Madagascar
Dombeya australis Scott Elliot – southeastern Madagascar
Dombeya autumnalis I.Verd. – Northern Province of South Africa
Dombeya baronii Baker – central and eastern Madagascar
Dombeya bathiei Hochr. – central Madagascar
Dombeya befotakensis Arènes – eastern Madagascar
Dombeya bemarivensis (Hochr.) Arènes – central Madagascar
Dombeya biumbellata Baker – central Madagascar
Dombeya blattiolens Frapp. ex Cordem. – Réunion
Dombeya borraginea Hochr. – western Madagascar
Dombeya breonii Baill. – central and eastern Madagascar
Dombeya brevistyla Arènes – central and eastern Madagascar
Dombeya buettneri K.Schum. – tropical Africa from Guinea to Ethiopia and Zambia
Dombeya burgessiae Gerrard ex Harv. (= D. greenwayi Wild, D. mastersii Hook.f., D. parvifolia K.Schum., D. rosea E.G.Baker, D. tanganyikensis Baker) – South Sudan to Angola and South Africa
Dombeya cacuminum Hochr. – northern and central Madagascar
Dombeya cannabina Hils. & Bojer ex Hook. – central Madagascar
Dombeya capuroniana Arènes – north-central Madagascar (Montagne d'Ambre)
Dombeya capuronii Arènes – central Madagascar
Dombeya catatii Hochr. – southeastern Madagascar
Dombeya ciliata Cordem. – Réunion
Dombeya condensata Hochr. – central Madagascar
Dombeya coria Baill. – central and eastern Madagascar
Dombeya cymosa Harv. – southern Mozambique to South Africa
Dombeya decanthera Cav. (= D. bojeriana Baill., Melhania decanthera (Cav.) DC) – southeastern Madagascar
Dombeya delislei Arènes – Réunion
Dombeya elegans Cordem. – sometimes included in D. burgessiae – Réunion
Dombeya ficulnea Baill. – sometimes erroneously included in D. punctata^[7]. – Réunion
Dombeya formosa Le Péchon & Pausé – Réunion
Dombeya glandulosissima Arènes – eastern Madagascar
Dombeya kirkii Mast. – southern Ethiopia to KwaZulu-Natal
Dombeya laurifolia (Bojer) Baill. (= D. parkeri Baill., D. valimpony R.Vig. & Humbert, D. valimpony f. obovalopsis Hochr., Melhania laurifolia Bojer) – central Madagascar
Dombeya leandrii Arènes – western Madagascar
Dombeya ledermannii Engl. – Nigeria and Cameroon
Dombeya longebracteolata Seyani – southwestern and southern Ethiopia
Dombeya montana (Hochr.) Arènes (= D. acerifolia var. montana Hochr.) – central Madagascar
Dombeya palmatisecta Hochr. – Madagascar
Dombeya pilosa Cordem. – Réunion
Dombeya pulchra N.E.Br. – South Africa: Northern Province to KwaZulu-Natal
Dombeya punctata Cav. (= D. lancea Cordem., D. pervillei Baill., Pentapetes punctata Poir.) – Réunion
Dombeya reclinata Cordem. – Réunion
Dombeya rodriguesiana F.Friedmann – Rodrigues
Dombeya rottleroides Baill. – northern and central Madagascar
Dombeya rotundifolia (Hochst.) Planch. – Blompeer or "South African Wild Pear". southern Ethiopia to South Africa
Dombeya shupangae K.Schum. – southeastern Kenya to Mozambique and Democratic Republic of the Congo
Dombeya spectabilis Bojer (= D. chapelieri Baill., D. humblotii Baill., D. lantziana Baill., D. rotundifolia Bojer) – east-central Madagascar
Dombeya tiliacea (Endl.) Planch. (= Xeropetalum tiliaceum Endl.) – South Africa: Eastern Cape Province to KwaZulu-Natal
Dombeya torrida (J.F.Gmel.) Bamps – Central African Republic to Eritrea, Zambia, and Malawi; also Yemen and southwestern Saudi Arabia.
Dombeya tsaratananensis (Hochr.) Arènes (= D. ficulnea var. tsaratananensis Hochr.) – central Madagascar
Dombeya umbellata Cav. (= Pentapetes umbellata Poir.) – Réunion
Dombeya wallichii (Lindl.) K.Schum. (= Astrapaea wallichii Lindl.) – Pink-ball, "Tropical Hydrangea". Eastern Madagascar

Footnotes

^ ^a ^b Dombeya Cav. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 25 June 2023.
^ Skema, Cynthia. "Toward a New Circumscription of Dombeya (Malvales: Dombeyaceae): A Molecular Phylogenetic and Morphological Study of Dombeya of Madagascar and a New Segregate Genus, Andringitra." Taxon, vol. 61, no. 3, 2012, pp. 612–628. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41679276. Accessed 23 Aug. 2021.
^ Le Péchon, Timothée, Qiang Dai, Li-Bing Zhang, Xin-Fen Gao, and Hervé Sauquet (2015). "Diversification of Dombeyoideae (Malvaceae) in the Mascarenes: Old Taxa on Young Islands?" International Journal of Plant Sciences Volume 176, Number 3 March/April 2015. https://doi.org/10.1086/679350
^ "Dombeya acutangula Cav.". Plants of the World Online, Kew Science. Accessed 23 August 2021. https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:822892-1
^ ^a ^b Hinsley (2008)
^ ^a ^b Cao et al. (2006)
^ Cao et al. (2006), Hinsley (2008)

References

Cao, Nathanaël; Le Pechon, Timothée & Zaragüeta-Bagils, René (2006): Does minimizing homoplasy really maximize homology? MaHo: A method for evaluating homology among most parsimonious trees. C. R. Palevol 7(1): 17–26. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2007.12.008 (HTML abstract)
Hinsley, Stewart R. (2008): Partial Synonymy of Dombeya. Retrieved 2008-JUN-25.