Mabrya

{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{Automatic taxobox |image = Mabrya_acerifolia_200904b.jpg |image_caption = ''Mabrya acerifolia'' |taxon = Mabrya |authority = Elisens<ref name=Tropicos_40036697/> |subdivision_ranks = Species |subdivision = See text }}

'''''Mabrya''''' is a genus of flowering plants in the plantain family, Plantaginaceae. It consists of herbaceous perennials with brittle upright or drooping stems, found in dry areas of Mexico and the southern United States.<ref name=Elis85/>

==Description==

Species of ''Mabrya'' are herbaceous perennials with fibrous roots. They have brittle stems, usually pendant and forming mats, although more upright in ''M. erecta''. The stems branch and become woody at the base with age. Unlike related genera, such as ''Maurandya'' and ''Lophospermum'', the leaf stalks (petioles) are straight and do not twine. The leaves are rounded or kidney shaped, generally with broad, somewhat rounded teeth.<ref name=Elis85/>

The flowers are borne individually on stalks (peduncles) that are usually horizontal or ascending. The sepals are joined at the base; where their margins become free, they curve back on themselves. Together the sepals form an urn-shaped calyx. The flowers consist of five petals joined at the base to form a tube. The free lobes of the petals are differentiated into two upper ones that curve backwards and three lower ones that either point forward or also curve backward. The flower tends to be whitish at the base and is then cream, yellow, pink, red or reddish violet. There are four fertile stamens, of two different lengths, and one rudimentary infertile stamen. The stamens and style are either held inside the flower or protrude. The stigma is forked. After fertilization, the two-chambered capsule contains tan or dark brown seeds.<ref name=Elis85/>

==Taxonomy==

The genus ''Mabrya'' was created by Wayne J. Elisens in 1985 to separate out a number of species previously placed in the genus ''Maurandya''. The type species is ''Mabrya acerifolia''. The generic name honours Tom J. Mabry for his contributions to phytochemistry and chemotaxonomy, which Elisens says "have substantially increased our understanding of the North American flora."{{sfn|ps=|Elisens|1985|p=58}}

''Mabrya'' is placed in the tribe Antirrhineae. The drooping or upright habit of the brittle stems distinguishes ''Mabrya'' (together with ''Holmgrenanthe'') from the closely related genera ''Lophospermum'', ''Maurandya'' and ''Rhodochiton'', which have longer, flexible stems and climb by means of twining leaf stalks (petioles). The ovary of ''Mabrya'' is bilocular (i.e. has two compartments) unlike the unilocular ovary of ''Holmgrenanthe''.<ref name=Elis85/>

===Phylogeny=== A number of molecular phylogenetic studies have shown that subtribe Maurandyinae, defined by Elisen to consist of the five North American genera ''Holmgrenanthe'', ''Lophospermum'', ''Mabrya'', ''Maurandya'' and ''Rhodochiton'', forms a monophyletic group, which is related to the Old World genera ''Cymbalaria'' and ''Asarina''.<ref name=GhebBremThul00/><ref name=VargRossOyamGuem04/><ref name=VargValeBlanLibe13/> Gehebrehiwet et al. suggested that the Maurandyinae could be expanded to include ''Cymbalaria'' and ''Asarina''.<ref name=GhebBremThul00/> Vargas et al. presented the following cladogram in 2013:<ref name=VargValeBlanLibe13/> {{Phylogeny/Maurandyinae}} Vargas et al. concluded that the Antirrhineae evolved in the Old World and subsequently colonized North America more than once, probably in the Miocene epoch ({{period span/brief|Miocene}}). One such colonization led to the evolution of the Maurandyinae (in Elisen's sense).<ref name=VargValeBlanLibe13/>

===Species===

{{As of|2014|July}}, The Plant List accepts six species:<ref name=TPL_Mabrya/> * ''Mabrya acerifolia'' (Pennell) Elisens * ''Mabrya coccinea'' (I.M.Johnst.) Elisens * ''Mabrya erecta'' (Hemsl.) Elisens * ''Mabrya flaviflora'' (I.M.Johnst.) D.A.Sutton * ''Mabrya geniculata'' (B.L.Rob. & Fernald) Elisens * ''Mabrya rosei'' (Munz) Elisens

Elisens treated ''Mabrya flaviflora'' as a subspecies of ''Mabrya geniculata''; it was later raised to a full species by David A. Sutton.<ref name=Sutt88/>

==Distribution and habitat== thumb|Distribution of ''Mabrya'' species{{sfn|ps=|Elisens|1985|p=62}} All the species are found in very dry areas, typically in shaded cliffs or canyons. ''Mabrya acerifolia'' is native to the Sonoran Desert in a small area about {{convert|80|km|mile|abbr=on|0}} across in south central Arizona. All the other species are only found in Mexico, in the Sonoran Desert (''M. geniculata'' and ''M. flaviflora'', the latter only in Baja California Norte), the Chihuahuan Desert (''M. coccinea'' and ''M. erecta'') and in the states of Jalisco and Zacatecas (''M. rosei'').<ref name=Elis85/>

==Ecology== Although observations of pollinators are limited, Elisens suggests that most ''Mabrya'' species are pollinated by hummingbirds; other possible pollinators are long-tongued bees.{{sfn|ps=|Elisens|1985|p=18}} The nectar composition of most species resembles that of related species known to be hummingbird-pollinated, being high in sucrose and low in glucose compared to fructose.<ref name=ElisFree88/>

==References==

{{Reflist|refs= <ref name=Elis85>{{Citation |last=Elisens |first=Wayne J. |year=1985 |title=Monograph of the Maurandyinae (Scrophulariaceae-Antirrhineae) |journal=Systematic Botany Monographs |volume=5 |pages=1–97 |doi=10.2307/25027602 |jstor=25027602 }}</ref>

<ref name=ElisFree88>{{Citation |last1=Elisens |first1=Wayne J. |last2=Freeman |first2=C. Edward |year=1988 |title=Floral Nectar Sugar Composition and Pollinator Type Among New World Genera in Tribe Antirrhineae (Scrophulariaceae) |journal=American Journal of Botany |volume=75 |issue=7 |pages=971–978 |doi=10.2307/2443763 |jstor=2443763 |name-list-style=amp }}</ref>

<ref name=GhebBremThul00>{{Citation |last1=Ghebrehiwet |first1=Medhanie |last2=Bremer |first2=Birgitta |last3=Thulin |first3=Mats Thulin |year=2000 |title=Phylogeny of the tribe Antirrhineae (Scrophulariaceae) based on morphological and ''ndhF'' sequence data |journal=Plant Systematics and Evolution |volume=220 |issue=3–4 |pages=223–239 |name-list-style=amp |doi=10.1007/bf00985047|bibcode=2000PSyEv.220..223G }}</ref>

<ref name=Sutt88>{{Citation |last=Sutton |first=David A. |year=1988 |title=A Revision of the Tribe Antirrhineae |location=London; New York |publisher=The Natural History Museum; Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-858520-6 }}, cited in {{citation |title=''Mabrya flaviflora'' (I.M. Johnst.) D.A. Sutton |work=Tropicos.org |publisher=Missouri Botanical Garden |url=http://www.tropicos.org/Name/50155763 |access-date=2014-07-15 }}</ref>

<ref name=TPL_Mabrya>{{Citation |title=Search for ''Mabrya'' |work=The Plant List |url=http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/search?q=Mabrya |access-date=2014-07-15 }}</ref>

<ref name=Tropicos_40036697>{{citation |title=''Mabrya'' Elisens |work=Tropicos.org |publisher=Missouri Botanical Garden |url=http://www.tropicos.org/Name/40036697 |access-date=2014-07-18 }}</ref>

<ref name=VargRossOyamGuem04>{{Citation |last1=Vargas |first1=P |last2=Rosselló |first2=J.A. |last3=Oyama |first3=R. |last4=Güemes |first4=J. |year=2004 |title=Molecular evidence for naturalness of genera in the tribe Antirrhineae (Scrophulariaceae) and three independent evolutionary lineages from the New World and the Old |journal=Plant Systematics and Evolution |volume=249 |issue=3–4 |pages=151–172 |name-list-style=amp |doi=10.1007/s00606-004-0216-1|bibcode=2004PSyEv.249..151V }}</ref>

<ref name=VargValeBlanLibe13>{{Citation |last1=Vargas |first1=Pablo |last2=Valente |first2=Luis M. |last3=Blanco-Pastor |first3=José Luis |last4=Liberal |first4=Isabel |last5=Guzmán |first5=Beatriz |last6=Cano |first6=Emilio |last7=Forrest |first7=Alan |last8=Fernández-Mazuecos |first8=Mario |year=2013 |title=Testing the biogeographical congruence of palaeofloras using molecular phylogenetics: snapdragons and the Madrean–Tethyan flora |journal=Journal of Biogeography |volume=41 |issue=5 |pages=932–943 |doi=10.1111/jbi.12253 |name-list-style=amp }}</ref> }}

Category:Mabrya Category:Plantaginaceae genera Category:Flora of Mexico Category:Flora of Arizona