Tetragonia

Tetragonia is a genus of 51 species of flowering plants in the family Aizoaceae, native to temperate and subtropical regions mostly of the Southern Hemisphere, in New Zealand, Australia, southern and eastern Africa, and western South America, and eastern Asia.<ref name = powo/>

Description

Plants of the genus Tetragonia are herbs or small shrubs. Leaves are alternate and succulent,<ref name=FloraBase>Template:FloraBase</ref> with flowers typically yellow and small in size. Flowers can be axillary, solitary or fasciculate, greenish or yellowish in colour and mostly bisexual.<ref name=zim>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Fruit are initially succulent but become dry and woody with age. The genus name comes from "tetragonus", meaning "four-angled" and referring to the shape of the plants' fruits.<ref>Beadle, N.C.W., Part II, Students Flora of North Eastern New South Wales, University of New England, 1972, Template:ISBN.</ref>

Sphaeraphides occur in at least the leaves and stalks of at least some species.Template:Sfn

Distribution

About forty species of Tetragonia are found in southern Africa, from Angola to South Africa.<ref name=zim/> They also occur in Australia,<ref name=at/> eastern Africa (Kenya and Ethiopia), western south America (Peru and Chile), and Asia (Japan, Korea, Taiwan, southern China, Myanmar, and Vietnam).<ref name = powo/>

Classification

The genus was first formally described by the botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1753 in the work Species Plantarum.<ref name=at>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Synonyms for the genus include Tetragonocarpos Mill., Demidovia Pall., and Tetragonella Miq.<ref name = powo/>

Human use and cultivation

The best known species of Tetragonia is the leafy vegetable food crop, Tetragonia tetragonoides ("New Zealand spinach"). New Zealand spinach is widely cultivated as a summer leafy vegetable.

Some of the other species are also eaten locally, such as Tetragonia decumbens ("Dune spinach") which is a local delicacy in its native southern Africa.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Species

51 species are accepted.<ref name = powo/> Template:Div col

• Tetragonia acanthocarpa Template:Small
• Tetragonia angustifolia Template:Small
• Tetragonia arbuscula Template:Small
• Tetragonia caesia Template:Small
• Tetragonia calycina Template:Small
• Tetragonia chenopodioides Template:Small
• Tetragonia copiapina Template:Small
• Tetragonia coronata Template:Small
• Tetragonia cristata Template:Small
• Tetragonia crystallina Template:Small
• Tetragonia decumbens Template:Small
• Tetragonia diptera Template:Small
• Tetragonia distorta Template:Small
• Tetragonia echinata Template:Small
• Tetragonia erecta Template:Small
• Tetragonia eremaea Template:Small
• Tetragonia espinosae Template:Small
• Tetragonia fruticosa Template:Small
• Tetragonia galenioides Template:Small
• Tetragonia glauca Template:Small
• Tetragonia halimoides Template:Small
• Tetragonia haworthii Template:Small
• Tetragonia herbacea Template:Small
• Tetragonia hirsuta Template:Small
• Tetragonia implexicoma Template:Small
• Tetragonia lasiantha Template:Small
• Tetragonia macrocarpa Template:Small
• Tetragonia macroptera Template:Small
• Tetragonia maritima Template:Small
• Tetragonia microcarpa Template:Small
• Tetragonia microptera Template:Small
• Tetragonia moorei Template:Small
• Tetragonia namaquensis Template:Small
• Tetragonia nigrescens Template:Small
• Tetragonia ovata Template:Small
• Tetragonia pedunculata Template:Small
• Tetragonia pillansii Template:Small
• Tetragonia portulacoides Template:Small
• Tetragonia rangeana Template:Small
• Tetragonia reduplicata Template:Small
• Tetragonia robusta Template:Small
• Tetragonia rosea Template:Small
• Tetragonia saligna Template:Small
• Tetragonia sarcophylla Template:Small
• Tetragonia sphaerocarpa Template:Small
• Tetragonia spicata Template:Small
• Tetragonia tetragonoides Template:Small
• Tetragonia trigyna Template:Small
• Tetragonia verrucosa Template:Small
• Tetragonia vestita Template:Small
• Tetragonia virgata Template:Small

Formerly placed here

• Anisostigma schenckii Template:Small (as Tetragonia schenckii Template:Small)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Gallery

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  Tetragonia decumbens
• 
  Tetragonia echinata
• 
  Tetragonia implexicoma
• 
  Tetragonia ovata

References

<references/>

Bibliography

• Template:Cite journal