Simsia

{{Short description|Genus of plants}} {{For-text|the earthworm genus|''Simsia'' (annelid)}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Simsia calva.jpg | image_caption = ''Simsia calva'' | display_parents = 3 | taxon = Simsia | authority = Pers. 1807,<ref name="GRIN">{{cite web |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/genus.pl?11173 |title=Genus: ''Simsia'' Pers. |work=Germplasm Resources Information Network |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |date=1996-09-17 |accessdate=2011-02-13}}</ref> not R. Br. 1810 (Proteaceae)<ref>[http://www.tropicos.org/Name/40000468 Tropicos, ''Simsia'' R. Br.]</ref> | type_species = ''Simsia amplexicaulis''<ref name=g/><ref name="s">{{Cite journal |last1=Robinson |first1=Harold Ernest |last2=Brettell |first2=R. D. |year=1972 |url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/13127261#page/377/mode/1up |title=Studies in the Heliantheae (Asteraceae). II. A survey of the Mexican and Central American species of Simsia |journal=Phytologia |volume=24 |issue=5 |pages=361–377 |doi=10.5962/bhl.part.17146 |doi-access=free}}</ref> | type_species_authority = (Cav.) Pers. | synonyms_ref = <ref name=e/> | synonyms = * ''Encelia'' sect. ''Simsia'' (Pers.) A.Gray * ''Barrattia'' A.Gray & Engelm. ex A.Gray }}

'''''Simsia''''' is a genus of flowering plants in the tribe Heliantheae within the family Asteraceae.<ref name=g>[http://www.tropicos.org/Name/40000462 Tropicos, ''Simsia'' Pers.]</ref><ref>[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/page/235812#page/481/mode/1up Persoon, Christiaan Hendrik. 1807. Synopsis Plantarum 2: 478-479] in Latin</ref> It includes annuals, herbaceous perennials, and shrubs. They range from the western United States south through Central and South America to Argentina, with the center of diversity occurring in Mexico. The genus is named for British physician and botanist John Sims (1749–1831).<ref name="eFloras">{{cite web |url=http://www.efloras.org/florataxon.aspx?flora_id=1&taxon_id=130390 |first=David M. |last=Spooner |title='''Simsia Persoon''', Syn. Pl. 2: 478. 1807. |work=Flora of North America |publisher=eFloras.org |accessdate=2011-12-30}}</ref> Although some species are relatively rare, others have become common weeds that line the roadsides and fields of Mexico, often forming dense stands mixed with ''Tithonia'' and other Asteraceae. Some species are known by the common name '''bushsunflower'''.<ref>{{PLANTS|id=SIMSI|taxon=Simsia|accessdate=15 November 2015}}</ref>

==Description and systematics== A feature that characterizes many of the species of the genus and helps to distinguish them from related genera is the extremely flattened cypsela (achene). There are, however, several species in which the cypsela is biconvex, and these are recognized as belonging to ''Simsia'' by a group of other, mostly technical features, including nodal disks (stipule-like appendages at the base of the petioles), relatively long and narrow ray ovaries, and long and tapering style branches that lack a pronounced apical appendage.<ref name="eFloras"/>

The genus was thoroughly studied by Spooner<ref>Spooner, D. M. 1990. Systematics of ''Simsia'' (Compositae-Heliantheae). Systematic Botany Monographs 30: 1-90.</ref> using comparative morphology, chromosome counts, and crossing experiments, and based on samples from wide-ranging field work. Subsequently two new species have been documented,<ref>{{cite journal |first=J. L. |last=Panero |author2=E. E. Schilling |year=1992 |title=Two new species of ''Simsia'' from southern Mexico |journal=Novon |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=35–38 |doi=10.2307/3391498 |jstor=3391498|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/part/2549 }}</ref> and additional species are being transferred into the genus. Although at one time, ''Simsia'' was considered to be related to other genera with flattened cypselae, such as ''Encelia'', it is now firmly established that ''Simsia'' is part of subtribe Helianthinae (the taxonomic group which includes the common sunflower, ''Helianthus annuus''), and is a close relative of ''Tithonia''<ref name="eFloras"/><ref>{{cite journal |first=E. E. |last=Schilling |author2=J. L. Panero |year=1996 |title=Phylogenetic reticulation in subtribe Helianthinae |journal=American Journal of Botany |volume=83 |issue=7 |pages=939–948 |doi=10.2307/2446272 |jstor=2446272}}</ref>

All of the species for which chromosome counts have been made are diploid (''x'' = 17), and crossing experiments suggest that there are few barriers to hybridization between species of the genus. Natural hybridization appears to occur and may complicate identification of some specimens, particularly involving the weedy species such as ''S. foetida'', ''S. amplexicaulis'', and ''S. lagascaeformis''.<ref name=s/>

; Species<ref name=e>[http://dixon.iplantcollaborative.org/CompositaeWeb/Default.aspx?Page=AdvNameSearch Flann, C (ed) 2009+ Global Compositae Checklist ] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20141106174748/http://dixon.iplantcollaborative.org/CompositaeWeb/Default.aspx?Page=AdvNameSearch |date=2014-11-06 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.theplantlist.org/tpl1.1/search?q=Simsia The Plant List search for ''Simsia'']</ref><ref>[http://bonap.net/NAPA/TaxonMaps/Genus/County/Simsia Biota of North America Program 2013 county distribution maps]</ref> * ''Simsia amplexicaulis'' (Cav.) Pers. - Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico (from Chihuahua to Chiapas) * ''Simsia annectens'' S.F.Blake - Chiapas, Michoacán, Oaxaca, Guerrero, México State, Jalisco, Nayarit * ''Simsia calva'' (A.Gray) A.Gray – Awnless bush sunflower<ref name="ITIS">{{ITIS |id=38414 |taxon=''Simsia'' |accessdate=2011-02-13}}</ref> - Nuevo León, Coahuila, Hidalgo, Tamaulipas, United States (TX NM) * ''Simsia caucana'' Cuatrec. - Cauca in Colombia * ''Simsia chaseae'' (Millspaugh) S.F.Blake - Veracruz, Yucatán Peninsula * ''Simsia dombeyana'' (A.Gray) S.F.Blake - Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina * ''Simsia eurylepis'' S.F.Blake - San Luis Potosí, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Campeche, Nuevo León * ''Simsia foetida'' (Cav.) S.F.Blake<ref name="GRINSpecies">{{cite web |url=http://www.ars-grin.gov/cgi-bin/npgs/html/splist.pl?11173 |title=GRIN Species Records of ''Simsia'' |work=Germplasm Resources Information Network |publisher=United States Department of Agriculture |accessdate=2011-02-13}}</ref> - from Michoacán to Nicaragua * ''Simsia fruticulosa'' (Sprengel) S.F.Blake - Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador * ''Simsia ghiesbreghtii'' (A.Gray) S.F.Blake - Chiapas, Guatemala * ''Simsia grandiflora'' Benth. ex Oerst. - Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Chiapas * ''Simsia guatemalensis'' H.Rob. & Brettell - Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala * ''Simsia hispida'' (Kunth) Cass. - San Luis Potosí, Michoacán, México State * ''Simsia holwayi'' S.F.Blake - Guatemala, Chiapas * ''Simsia jamaicensis'' S.F.Blake - Jamaica * ''Simsia lagasceiformis'' DC. – Annual bush sunflower<ref name="ITIS"/> - Mexico, Guatemala, United States (AZ TX NM) * ''Simsia molinae'' H.Rob. & Brettell - Honduras, Nicaragua * ''Simsia pastoensis'' Triana - Colombia * ''Simsia sanguinea'' A.Gray - El Salvador, Guatemala, Chiapas, Oaxaca, Puebla, Veracruz, Michoacán, Morelos, México State, Jalisco * ''Simsia santarosensis'' Spooner - Costa Rica * ''Simsia setosa'' S.F.Blake - Sonora, Durango, Nayarit * ''Simsia steyermarkii'' H.Rob. & Brettell - Guatemala * ''Simsia subaristata'' A.Gray - Nuevo León * ''Simsia tenuis'' (Fernald) S.F.Blake - Guerrero * ''Simsia villasenorii'' Spooner - Chiapas, Oaxaca

; Formerly included<ref name=e/> numerous species now regarded as members of other genera: ''Encelia Geraea Iostephane Viguiera''

==References== {{Reflist}}

*{{Commons category-inline}} *{{Wikispecies-inline|Simsia (Asteraceae)|Simsia}}

Category:Asteraceae genera Category:Heliantheae Category:Flora of the Americas

Simsia

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