Clymenia (plant)
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Clymenia is a small genus of flowering plants in the family Rutaceae. There are two species included in the genus: Clymenia platypoda and Clymenia polyandra.
Taxonomy
Cultivated locally for its sweet fruits on a handful of southwestern Pacific islands, Clymenia was originally considered an obscure citrus hybrid. Botanist Tyôzaburô Tanaka noted that Clymenia would hybridize with a few other citrus plants (notably kumquats), but otherwise was generally different from other citrus in many aspects of its appearance. In the 1960s, botanist Walter Tennyson Swingle proposed that Clymenia might belong to a genus of its own. Swingle assumed that Clymenia and citrus evolved from a single common ancestor. Alternatively, Berhow suggested in 2000 that a close relationship existed between Clymenia and kumquat and that it might be a Citrofortunella hybrid.[1]
More recent genomic analysis showed Clymenia to cluster within the genus Citrus in a clade with the Australian and New Guinean limes, which though formerly placed in genera Eremocitrus and Microcitrus are now considered members of Citrus.[2][3][4] Because excluding them would make Citrus paraphyletic, the Clymenia species may likewise belong in Citrus,[2][3] with Clymenia relegated to the status of a subgenus. Genomic analysis also showed Clymenia polyandra to be completely homozygous, proving it to be a distinct species and not a hybrid.[4]
Description
Clymenia forms a shrub or small tree, free of spines. Leaves feature a short, narrow petiole, which sets them apart from most other citrus, especially the papedas native to the same general area. Clymenia fruits are a small hesperidium, very similar to a citrus fruit. Sweet and lemony in flavor, the tangerine-sized fruits are highly segmented, with yellow pulp, and a leathery rind, similar to a true citrus fruit. They contain a large number of polyembryonic seeds. The fruit are eaten by the Bismarck islanders, who call it a-mulis (Namatanai).[1][5]
Native to a handful of locations on Papua New Guinea and nearby islets, Clymenia is far more tropical than other citrus, and even in subtropical parts of the United States, it can only be grown in a greenhouse. Specimens thrived in greenhouses in Riverside, California, but perished when planted out in the arid climate.[citation needed] They are locally cultivated in indigenous villages, but have never been commercially cultivated.
References
- ^ a b Krueger, R.R.; Navarro, L. (2007), Kahn, Iqrar Ahmad (ed.), "Citrus Germplasm Resources", Citrus Genetics, Breeding and Biotechnology, CAB International, pp. 64–65, ISBN 9781845931933
- ^ a b Bayer, Randall J; Mabberly, David J; Morton, Cynthia; Miller, Cathy H; Sharma, Ish K; Pfiel, Bernard E; Rich, Sarah; Hitchcock, Roberta; Sykes, Steve (2009). "A molecular phylogeny of the orange subfamily (Rutaceae: Aurantioideae) using nine cpDNA sequences". American Journal of Botany. 96 (3): 668–685. doi:10.3732/ajb.0800341. PMID 21628223.
- ^ a b Oueslati, Amel; Ollitrault, Frederique; Baraket, Ghada; Salhi-Hannachi, Amel; Navarro, Luis; Ollitrault, Patrick (2016). "Towards a molecular taxonomic key of the Aurantioideae subfamily using chloroplastic SNP diagnostic markers of the main clades genotyped by competitive allele-specific PCR". BMC Genetics. 17 (1): 118. doi:10.1186/s12863-016-0426-x. PMC 4991024. PMID 27539067.
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: unflagged free DOI (link) - ^ a b Andrés García Lor (2013). Organización de la diversidad genética de los cítricos (PDF) (Thesis). pp. 79, 125–128.
- ^ Jorma Koskinen and Sylvain Jousse. "Citrus Pages / Distant Citrus relatives". free.fr.
External links
- Pictures of Clymenia in Papua New Guinea.
- Sorting Citrus Relatives
- Clymenia polyandra (Tanaka) Swingle
- Clymenia polyandra
