Acrosanthes

{{short description|Genus of plants}} {{Automatic taxobox | image =Acrosanthes anceps.jpg | image_caption = ''Acrosanthes anceps'' | parent_authority = Klak | taxon = Acrosanthes | authority = Eckl. & Zeyh. (1837) | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = | synonyms = ''Didaste'' {{small|E.Mey. ex Harv. & Sond. (1862)}} | synonyms_ref = <ref name=":0"/> }}

'''''Acrosanthes''''' is a genus of flowering plants in the family ''Aizoaceae''. It is native to the Namibia and South Africa's Cape Provinces in Southern Africa.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Acrosanthes Eckl. & Zeyh. {{!}} Plants of the World Online {{!}} Kew Science|url=http://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:16084-1|access-date=2020-09-29|website=Plants of the World Online|language=en}}</ref>

== Description == Plants in this genus are generally prostrate to sprawling branching perennials with opposite succulent leaves. Inflorescences are a cyme, and flowers have 5 calyx lobes, 8 to many stamen, and an inferior ovary. Fruits are 2 loculed capsules with basal placentation (see "in plants"), and the fruit is xerochastic (fruit dehisces when dry).<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kubitzki |first=K. |editor-first1=Klaus |editor-first2=Jens G |editor-first3=Volker |editor-last1=Kubitzki |editor-last2=Rohwer |editor-last3=Bittrich |url=https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-662-02899-5 |title=The Families and Genera of Vascular Plants. Volume 2, Flowering Plants · Dicotyledons |publisher=Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg GmbH |year=1993 |isbn=978-3-642-08141-5 |pages=45 |language=en |doi=10.1007/978-3-662-02899-5|s2cid=38606188 }}</ref><ref name="rs">{{Cite journal |last1=Schmid |first1=Rudolf |last2=Govaerts |first2=Rafaël |last3=Govaerts |first3=Rafael |date=August 1996 |title=World Checklist of Seed Plants |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1224173 |journal=Taxon |volume=45 |issue=3 |pages=45 |doi=10.2307/1224173 |issn=0040-0262 |jstor=1224173|url-access=subscription }}</ref> Their seeds are likely dispersed by ants.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Bond |first1=W. J. |last2=Slingsby |first2=P. |date=June 1983 |title=Seed Dispersal by Ants in Shrublands of the Cape Province and its Evolutionary Implications |url=https://journals.co.za/doi/pdf/10.10520/AJA00382353_2316 |journal=South African Journal of Science |volume=79 |issue=6 |pages=237–233}}</ref>

== Taxonomy == This genus was first described by Ecklon and Zeyher in 1837.<ref name="rs" /><ref>{{Cite book|last1=Ecklon|first1=Christian Friedrich|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=21wYAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP9|title=Enumeratio plantarum Africae australis extratropicae quae collectae, determinatae et expositae|last2=Zeyher|first2=Karl Ludwig Philipp|date=1835|publisher=Perthes & Besser|language=la}}</ref>

== Species == There are 7 recognized species as of 2022:<ref name=":0" />

# ''Acrosanthes anceps'' {{small|(Thunb.) Sond.}} # ''Acrosanthes angustifolia'' {{small|Eckl. & Zeyh.}} # ''Acrosanthes decandra'' {{small|Fenzl}} # ''Acrosanthes humifusa'' {{small|(Thunb.) Sond.}} # ''Acrosanthes microphylla'' {{small|Adamson}} # ''Acrosanthes parviflora'' {{small|J.C.Manning & Goldblatt}} # ''Acrosanthes teretifolia'' {{small|Eckl. & Zeyh.}}

== References == {{Reflist}}

Category:Aizoaceae Category:Plants described in 1837 Category:Flora of Southern Africa Category:Aizoaceae genera