{{short description|Genus of flowering plants in the borage family Boraginaceae}} {{automatic taxobox | image = Mimophytum sp.jpg | image_caption = '''Mimophytum sp.''' | taxon = Mimophytum | authority = [[Jesse More Greenman|Greenm.]] (1905) | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = 11; see text | subdivision_ref = <ref name = powo>[https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:297547-2 ''Mimophytum'' Greenm.] ''[[Plants of the World Online]]''. Retrieved 10 July 2024.</ref> | type_species = ''[[Mimophytum omphalodoides]]'' | type_species_authority = Greenm. }}
'''''Mimophytum''''' is a [[genus]] of [[flowering plant]]s in the [[Family (taxonomy)|family]] Boraginaceae. The species are native to northeastern [[Mexico]] and adjacent areas of [[Texas]], [[United States]]. They are similar to the closely related genus ''[[Omphalodes]]'' but a distinct group.
== Morphology== ''Mimophytum'' species are (sub-)perennial herbs, either with a [[rhizome]] or erect. The leaves have petioles and are heart-shaped or rhombic. They produce blue flowers similar to [[forget-me-nots]].<ref name=Nesom2013>{{Cite journal | last1 = Nesom | first1 = G.L. | title = A third species of ''Mimophytum'' s.str. and three new species of ''Omphalodes'' (Boraginaceae) from North America | journal = Phytoneuron | volume = 2013-64 | pages = 1–23 | year = 2013}}</ref> The [[fruit]]s consist of four winged nutlets. The nutlet wing can be turned upwards, creating a navel-like shape, similar to the fruits of ''[[Omphalodes]]''. In two species, ''[[Mimophytum alienum|M. alienum]]'' and ''[[Mimophytum alienoides|M. alienoides]]'', there are two differently shaped fruits: two navel-like nutlets and two nutlets with flat wings. In three species, ''[[Mimophytum omphalodoides|M. omphalodoides]]'', ''[[Mimophytum benitomartinezii|M. benitomartinezii]]'', and ''[[Mimophytum richardsonii|M. richardsonii]]'', the wings of the navel-shaped nutlets are beset with small barbed [[glochid]]ia.
==Species== 11 species are accepted.<ref name = powo/> *''[[Mimophytum alienoides]]'' {{small|(G.L.Nesom) Holstein & Weigend}} *''[[Mimophytum alienum]]'' {{small|(A.Gray ex Hemsl.) R.R.Mill ex Holstein & Weigend}} *''[[Mimophytum australe]]'' {{small|(G.L.Nesom) R.R.Mill ex Holstein & Weigend}} *''[[Mimophytum benitomartinezii]]'' {{small|Pérez-Calix & Pat.-Sicil.}} *''[[Mimophytum cardiophyllum]]'' {{small|(A.Gray ex Hemsl.) R.R.Mill ex Holstein & Weigend}} *''[[Mimophytum carranzae]]'' {{small|(G.L.Nesom) Holstein & Weigend}} *''[[Mimophytum chiangii]]'' {{small|(L.C.Higgins) Holstein & Weigend}} *''[[Mimophytum erectum]]'' {{small|(I.M.Johnst.) A.Otero, Jim.Mejías, Valcárcel & P.Vargas}} *''[[Mimophytum mexicanum]]'' {{small|(S.Watson) R.R.Mill ex Holstein & Weigend}} *''[[Mimophytum omphalodoides]]'' {{small|Greenm.}} *''[[Mimophytum richardsonii]]'' {{small|(G.L.Nesom) G.L.Nesom}}
==Systematics== The ''barbed glochidia'' on the nutlet wing was a character that led [[Jesse More Greenman|Greenman]] to describe his new species, ''Mimophytum omphalodoides'', in new genus.<ref name=Greenman1905>{{Cite journal | last1 = Greenman | first1 = J.M. | title = Descriptions of Spermatophytes from the Southwestern United States, Mexico and Central America | doi = 10.2307/20013502 | journal = Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences | volume = 41 | pages = 233–270 | year = 1905| issue = 9 | jstor = 20013502 | s2cid = 165277761 | url = https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/335945 }}</ref> However, Greenman already recognized the similarity of many characters of his new species to ''Omphalodes''. The species without these glochidiate nutlet wings were considered as belonging to ''Omphalodes'',<ref name=Nesom2013 /> but the similarity was always recognized. New phylogenetic work showed that the native Mexican and Texan "''Omphalodes''" species are a [[clade]], distinct from the true ''Omphalodes'' from Europe.<ref name=holsteinetal2016a>{{Cite journal | last1 = Holstein | first1 = N. | last2 = Chacón | first2 = J. | last3 = Hilger | first3 = H. H. | last4 = Weigend | first4 = M. | title = No longer shipwrecked—''Selkirkia'' (Boraginaceae) back on the mainland with generic rearrangements in South American "''Omphalodes''" based on molecular data | doi = 10.11646/phytotaxa.270.4.1 | journal = Phytotaxa | volume = 270 | issue = 4 | pages = 231–251 | year = 2016 | bibcode = 2016Phytx.270..231H | url = http://publication.plazi.org/id/4711FFDFFFDFFFFEF83EFFFCF802FFE8 }}</ref> A later phylogenetic placement of the type species of ''Mimophytum'' within the North American clade of ''Omphalodes'' confirmed the suggested close relationship, leading to the taxonomic transfer of most of the native North American ''Omphalodes'' names to ''Mimophytum''.<ref name=holsteinetal2016b>{{Cite journal | last1 = Holstein | first1 = N. | last2 = Chacón | first2 = J. | last3 = Otero | first3 = A. | last4 = Jiménez-Mejías | first4 = P. | last5 = Weigend | first5 = M. | title = Towards a monophyletic ''Omphalodes''—or an expansion of North American ''Mimophytum'' | doi = 10.11646/phytotaxa.288.2.3 | journal = Phytotaxa | volume = 288 | issue = 2 | pages = 131–144 | year = 2016 | bibcode = 2016Phytx.288..131H | url = http://publication.plazi.org/id/130C3746B83CFFA73A6BF950FFB5FFC2 }}</ref> A single remaining ''Omphalodes'' species from Mexico, ''O. erecta'' was initially excluded from this process, because it is morphologically too deviant to infer an unequivocal classification to ''Mimophytum'' from morphology alone. A phylogenetic study published in 2019 confirmed that ''O. erecta'' belongs to the ''Mimophytum'' clade, and it was renamed ''[[Mimophytum erectum]]''.<ref>Otero, A., Jiménez-Mejías, P., Valcárcel, V. and Vargas, P. (2019), Worldwide long-distance dispersal favored by epizoochorous traits in the biogeographic history of Omphalodeae (Boraginaceae). ''Journal of Systematics and Evolution'', 57: 579-593. https://doi.org/10.1111/jse.12504</ref>
==References== {{Reflist}} {{Taxonbar|from=Q9033241}}
[[Category:Boraginoideae| ]] [[Category:Boraginaceae genera]] [[Category:Flora of Northern America]] [[Category:Taxa named by Jesse More Greenman]]