Biology:Pilea

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Short description: Genus of plants

Pilea
Pilea rotundinucula (Bahamutzero).jpg
Pilea rotundinucula
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Clade: Rosids
Order: Rosales
Family: Urticaceae
Tribe: Elatostemateae
Genus: Pilea
Lindl., 1821
Species

See text

Pilea, with 600–715 species, is the largest genus of flowering plants in the nettle family Urticaceae.

It is distributed throughout the tropics, subtropics, and warm temperate regions (with the exception of Australia and New Zealand).

Description

The majority of species are shade-loving herbaceous plants or shrubs, which are easily distinguished from other Urticaceae by the combination of opposite leaves (with rare exceptions) with a single ligulate intrapetiolar stipule in each leaf axil and cymose or paniculate inflorescences (again with rare exceptions).

Uses

Pilea is of little economic importance; one species is used in Chinese traditional medicine (P. plataniflora).[citation needed]

Horticulture

Six species have horticultural value (P. cadierei, P. grandifolia, P. involucrata, P. microphylla, P. nummulariifolia, and P. peperomioides),[1] Some pileas are grown for their ornamental foliage which is shaped like lily-pads.[2]

The ASPCA includes many pilea species in the list of plants that are non-toxic to pets.[3]

Systematics

The genus has attracted little monographic attention since Weddell (1869), and the majority of taxonomic contributions have come from floristic treatments. To date, 787 species names have been published (International Plant Names Index, 2003) and estimates for the species number range from 250 to 1000.[4] Based on previous floristic treatments, about 30% of the species from regions not yet covered by contemporary floristic treatments may be undescribed.

The genus name Pilea is Latin for "felt cap", a reference to the calyx covering the achene.[5]

Selected species


Fossil record

The fossil species †Pilea cantalensis was widely distributed in Europe and West Siberia during the Miocene and Pliocene. It is related to the East Asian Pilea mongolica and to the North American Pilea pumila.[6]

References

  1. RHS A-Z encyclopedia of garden plants. United Kingdom: Dorling Kindersley. 2008. p. 1136. ISBN 978-1405332965. 
  2. Peerless, Veronica (2017). How Not to Kill Your Houseplant. DK Penguin Random House. pp. 108–109. 
  3. "Toxic and Non-Toxic Plant List - Cats". https://www.aspca.org/pet-care/animal-poison-control/cats-plant-list. 
  4. (C. D. Adams, BM, personal communication).
  5. "Pilea in Flora of North America @". Efloras.org. http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=125428. Retrieved 2022-05-01. 
  6. Łańcucka-Środoniowa M.: Macroscopic plant remains from the freshwater Miocene of the Nowy Sącz Basin (West Carpathians, Poland) [Szczątki makroskopowe roślin z miocenu słodkowodnego Kotliny Sądeckiej (Karpaty Zachodnie, Polska)]. Acta Palaeobotanica 1979 20 (1): 3-117.

Further reading

  • Chen, C.J. (1982). "A monograph of Pilea (Urticaceae) in China". Bull. Bot. Res. 2: 1–132. 
  • Monro, A.K. (2006). "The revision of species-rich genera: a phylogenetic framework for the strategic revision of Pilea (Urticaceae) based on cpDNA, nrDNA, and morphology". Am. J. Bot. 93 (3): 426–441. doi:10.3732/ajb.93.3.426. PMID 21646202. 


Wikidata ☰ Q7222652 entry