Clausena

{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Clausena lansium.jpg | image_caption = ''Clausena lansium'' | taxon = Clausena | authority = Burm.f. | type_species = ''Clausena excavata''<ref>{{APNI | name = ''Clausena'' Burm.f. | id = 16550}}</ref> | type_species_authority = Burm.f. | synonyms = *''Cookia'' Sonn. *''Fagarastrum'' G.Don *''Gallesioa'' M.Roem. *''Glaucena'' Vitman *''Myaris'' C.Presl *''Piptostylis'' Dalzell *''Polycyema'' Voigt *''Quinaria'' Lour. | synonyms_ref = <ref>{{cite web |url=https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30056377-2 |title=Clausena Burm.f. }}</ref> }}

'''''Clausena''''' is a genus of flowering plants in the citrus family, Rutaceae. It was first defined by the Dutch botanist Nicolaas Laurens Burman in 1768. It is distributed in Africa, southern Asia, Australia, and the Pacific Islands.<ref name=china>[http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=2&taxon_id=107247 ''Clausena''.] Flora of China.</ref>

This genus is in the subfamily Aurantioideae, which also includes genus ''Citrus''. It is in the subtribe Clauseninae, which are known technically as the remote citroid fruit trees.<ref name=swing>Swingle, W. T., rev. P. C. Reece. [http://websites.lib.ucr.edu/agnic/webber/Vol1/Chapter3.html Chapter 3: The Botany of ''Citrus'' and its Wild Relatives.] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130901030802/http://websites.lib.ucr.edu/agnic/webber/Vol1/Chapter3.html |date=2013-09-01 }} In: ''The Citrus Industry'' vol. 1. Webber, H. J. (ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. 1967.</ref><ref name=ucr>[http://www.citrusvariety.ucr.edu/citrus/citrus.html Citrus Variety Collection.] College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. University of California, Riverside.</ref>

''Clausena'' was named for the Norwegian clergyman, Peder Claussøn Friis (1545-1614), the translator of the Icelandic historian and poet, Snorri Sturluson.<ref>[https://www.google.co.za/search?tbo=p&tbm=bks&q=isbn:142008044X ''"CRC World Dictionary of Medicinal and Poisonous Plants"'' - Umberto Quattrocchi (2012)]</ref>

==Description== The genus includes shrubs and trees. Some species are variable, with many forms. ''C. anisata'', for example has been described as a shrub under a meter tall and as a tree of {{Convert|20|m||abbr=}}.<ref name=swing/> The leaves of these plants are pinnate, divided into leaflets. The inflorescence varies in form, but is generally a cluster of several flowers with 4 or 5 petals and sepals. The fruit is a berry which lacks the pulp of many other fruits in the citrus family.<ref name=china/> The genus can be distinguished from related plants by the presence of a gynophore, a structure supporting the ovary in the flower. It looks very different in the various species, however, and can be hard to recognize.<ref name=swing/>

==Uses== ''C. anisata'' is a tree used for its wood,<ref name=grin-ani>{{GRIN | ''Clausena anisata'' | 10807 | accessdate = 14 January 2018}}</ref> and in traditional medicine.<ref name=for>{{Cite journal |jstor = 41738949|title = Clausena smyrelliana (Rutaceae: Aurantioideae), a new and critically endangered species from south-east Queensland|journal = Austrobaileya|volume = 5|issue = 4|pages = 715–720|last1 = Forster|first1 = Paul I.|year = 2000}}</ref> ''C. excavata'' is used medicinally in Asia for a variety of conditions, including snakebite, malaria, dysentery, and HIV infection.<ref name=thong>Thongthoom, T., et al. (2010). [http://www.ora.kku.ac.th/RES_KKU/ATTACHMENTS_RESAPPLY_PUBLICATION/769-1-Clausena_Tula-1%5B1%5D.pdf Biological activity of chemical constituents from ''Clausena harmandiana''.] ''Archives of Pharmacal Research'' 33(5), 675-80.</ref> Some species, such as ''C. indica'' and ''C. lansium'' (''wampi''), produce edible fruit. ''Wampi'' is cultivated as a fruit tree, and though it is only a remote relative of citrus, it can be grafted to various citrus trees. There are sour, sweet, and intermediate varieties of C. lansium.<ref name=swing/>

==Fossil record== A '''''Clausena''''' leaf fossil from the Oligocene of Ethiopia, represents so far the oldest record of the genus.<ref>Citrus linczangensis sp. n., a Leaf Fossil of Rutaceae from the Late Miocene of Yunnan, China by Sanping Xie, Steven R Manchester, Kenan Liu and Bainian Sun - International Journal of Plant Sciences 174(8):1201-1207 October 2013.</ref>

==Diversity== The taxonomy of the genus is unclear.<ref name=swing/> There are between about 15 and 30 species.<ref name=china/> Many formerly used names were made synonyms in a 1994 revision.<ref name=mol/>

''Plants of the World Online'' includes:<ref name = POWO>[https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:30056377-2 Plants of the World Online: ''Clausena'' Burm.f.] (retrieved 18 March 2026)</ref><ref name=grin>[https://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?2664 GRIN Species Records of ''Clausena''.] Germplasm Resources Information Network (GRIN).</ref>

{{div col|colwidth=30em}} # ''Clausena agasthyamalayana'' {{Au|E.S.S.Kumar, Shareef, P.E.Roy & Veldkamp}} # ''Clausena anisata'' {{Au|(Willd.) Hook.f. ex Benth.}} - horsewood # ''Clausena anisum-olens'' {{Au|(Blanco) Merr.}} (syn. ''C. sanki'', nom. rejic.) # ''Clausena austroindica'' {{Au|B.C.Stone & K.K.N.Nair}} # ''Clausena brevistyla'' {{Au|Oliv.}} # ''Clausena emarginata'' {{Au|C.C.Huang}} # ''Clausena engleri'' {{Au|Tanaka}} # ''Clausena excavata'' {{Au|Burm.f.}} # ''Clausena hainanensis'' {{Au|C.C.Huang & W.F.Xing}} # ''Clausena harmandiana'' {{Au|(Pierre) Guillaumin}} # ''Clausena henryi'' {{Au|(Swingle) C.C.Huang}} # ''Clausena heptaphylla'' {{Au|(Roxb. ex DC.) Wight & Arn.}} # ''Clausena indica'' {{Au|(Dalzell) Oliv.}} # ''Clausena lansium'' {{Au|(Lour.) Skeels}}– wampi, wampee, Chinese clausena # ''Clausena lenis'' {{Au|Drake}} # ''Clausena luxurians'' {{Au|(Kurz) Swingle}} # ''Clausena pentaphylla'' {{Au|DC.}} # ''Clausena poilanei'' {{Au|Molino}}<ref name=mol>Molino, J. F. (1994). [http://horizon.documentation.ird.fr/exl-doc/pleins_textes/pleins_textes_7/b_fdi_57-58/010024458.pdf Révision du genre ''Clausena'' Burm. f.(Rutaceae).] ''Adansonia'' 1, 105-53.</ref> # ''Clausena wallichii'' {{Au|Oliv.}} # ''Clausena yunnanensis'' {{Au|C.C.Huang}} {{div col end}}

'''Note''': ''Clausena smyrelliana''<ref name=for/> is a may be a synonym of ''Bergera crenulata''<ref name = POWO/>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{Commons cat inline}} * {{Wikispecies inline}}

Category:Clausena Category:Aurantioideae genera Category:Taxa named by Nicolaas Laurens Burman