{{Short description|Genus of flowering plants}} {{Automatic taxobox | fossil_range = Late Miocene-Present {{fossilrange|9|0}} | image = Trochetiopsis_erythroxylon.jpg | image_caption = ''Trochetiopsis erythroxylon'' only survives in horticulture at present | image2 = Trochetiopsis ebenus.jpg | image2_caption = Flower of ''Trochetiopsis ebenus'' | taxon = Trochetiopsis | authority = Wessel Marais (1929- ), 1981 | subdivision_ranks = Species | subdivision = ''Trochetiopsis × benjaminii''<br /> ''Trochetiopsis ebenus''<br /> ''Trochetiopsis erythroxylon'' <small>(extinct in the wild)</small><br /> ''Trochetiopsis melanoxylon'' <small>(extinct)</small> }}
The flowering plant genus '''''Trochetiopsis''''' consists of two extant and one extinct species endemic to the island of Saint Helena (South Atlantic Ocean). They were formerly placed in the family Sterculiaceae, but this is included in the expanded Malvaceae in the APG and most subsequent systematics.
There is evidence from fossil pollen that the ''Trochetiopsis'' lineage has been on Saint Helena since the late Miocene (some 9.5 million years).<ref>Cronk (1990)</ref>
==Description== The species of this genus were formerly included in the genus ''Trochetia'', but were separated by Marais in 1981 on the basis of geography and morphological characters.<ref>Marais (1981)</ref> Unlike in ''Trochetia'', the ''Trochetiopsis'' flowers have only five stamens, and the sepals generally have appressed sericeous indumentum on their interior faces (although one species, ''T. melanoxylon'', lacks this last character).
The wood of all the species is attractively coloured and is used in island inlay work.
== Phylogeny == ''Trochetiopsis'' is closely related to the genera ''Melhania'' and ''Paramelhania,'' with a 2021 study subsuming ''Trochetiopsis'' and ''Paramelhania'' into ''Melhania''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Dorr|first1=Laurence J.|last2=Wurdack|first2=Kenneth J.|date=February 2021|title=Indo‐Asian Eriolaena expanded to include two Malagasy genera, and other generic realignments based on molecular phylogenetics of Dombeyoideae (Malvaceae)|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/tax.12370|journal=Taxon|language=en|volume=70|issue=1|pages=99–126|doi=10.1002/tax.12370|s2cid=228860710|issn=0040-0262|url-access=subscription}}</ref>
==Species== There are three species (two living, one extinct), and one named hybrid: * ''Trochetiopsis erythroxylon''. Extinct in the wild * ''Trochetiopsis ebenus''. The St Helena ebony (critically endangered in the wild). * ''Trochetiopsis melanoxylon'' - Extinct. * ''Trochetiopsis × benjaminii'' (''T. erythroxylon'' × ''T. ebenus'').
==See also== * Flora of St Helena
==Footnotes== {{Reflist}}
==References== * {{aut|Marais, W.}} (1981) ''Trochetiopsis'' (Sterculiaceae), a new genus from St Helena. ''Kew Bulletin'' '''36'''(3): 645–646. [https://www.jstor.org/pss/4117598 HTML abstract] * {{aut|Cronk, Q.C.B.}} (1995): ''The endemic Flora of St Helena''. Anthony Nelson Ltd, Oswestry. * {{aut|Cronk, Q.C.B.}} (1990): The history of the endemic flora of St Helena: late Miocene ''Trochetiopsis''-like pollen from St Helena and the origin of ''Trochetiopsis''. ''New Phytologist'' '''114''': 159–165.
==External links== *[http://www.malvaceae.info/Genera/Trochetiopsis/gallery.html ''Trochetiopsis'' gallery]
{{Taxonbar|from=Q2720405}}
Category:Trochetiopsis Category:Flora of Saint Helena Category:Dombeyoideae Category:Malvaceae genera