Melhania

Melhania is a genus of small shrubs or herbaceous plants. Traditionally included in the family Sterculiaceae, it is included in the expanded Malvaceae in the APG and most subsequent systematics. The genus is named for Mount Melhan in Yemen.

Species

The following species are recognised by Plants of the World Online (POWO):

• Melhania acuminata <small>Mast.</small> Angola, Zambia, and Mozambique to South Africa
• Melhania albiflora <small>(Hiern) Exell & Mendonça</small> – southwestern Angola
• Melhania ambovombeensis <small>Arènes</small> – Madagascar
• Melhania andrahomanensis <small>Arènes</small> – Madagascar
• Melhania angustifolia <small>K.Schum.</small> – Tanzania (Zanzibar)
• Melhania annua <small>Thulin</small> – central and southern Somalia to southeastern Kenya
• Melhania apiculata <small>Baker f.</small> – Madagascar
• Melhania beguinotii <small>Cufod.</small> – southern Ethiopia
• Melhania brachycarpa <small>Domin</small> – northeastern Queensland
• Melhania burchellii <small>DC.</small> – western Zimbabwe to Namibia and South Africa
• Melhania cannabina <small>Wight ex Mast.</small> – southern India (Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
• Melhania carrissoi <small>Exell & Mendonça</small> – southwestern Angola
• Melhania corchoriflora <small>Baill.</small> – Madagascar
• Melhania coriacea <small>Chiov.</small> – central and southern Somalia
• Melhania damarana <small>Harv.</small> – Namibia, Botswana, and Northern Cape Province
• Melhania decaryana <small>Arènes</small> Madagascar
• Melhania dehnhardtii <small>K.Schum.</small> – southeastern Kenya
• Melhania denhamii <small>R.Br.</small> – northern tropical Africa (Mauritania to Somalia), Yemen, Pakistan, and northwestern India
• Melhania didyma <small>Eckl. & Zeyh.</small> South Africa, Botswana, and Eswatini
• Melhania ebenus – north-central and western Saint Helena
• Melhania engleriana <small>K.Schum.</small> – northern Somalia
• Melhania erythroxylon – central Saint Helena
• Melhania fiherenanensis <small>Arènes</small> - Madagascar
• Melhania forbesii <small>Planch. ex Mast.</small> – southern tropical Africa (Angola to Mozambique, Namibia, and Kwazulu Natal)
• Melhania fruticosa <small>Arènes</small> – Madagascar
• Melhania futteyporensis <small>Munro ex Mast.</small> – Pakistan to central India
• Melhania hamiltoniana <small>Wall.</small> – India, Myanmar, and southern China (Yunnan)
• Melhania hiranensis <small>Thulin</small> – central Somalia
• Melhania humbertii <small>Arènes</small> – Madagascar
• Melhania incana <small>B.Heyne ex Wight & Arn.</small> – southwestern Arabian Peninsula, Socotra, Somalia, and southern India
• Melhania integra <small>I.Verd.</small> – South Africa (Northern Province)
• Melhania itampoloensis <small>(Hochr.) Arènes</small> – Madagascar
• Melhania jaberi <small>Abedin</small> – Saudi Arabia
• Melhania javanica <small>Adelb.</small> – eastern Java to Lesser Sunda Islands (Timor)
• Melhania kelleri <small>Schinz</small> eastern Ethiopia and Somalia
• Melhania latibracteolata <small>Dorr</small> – Ethiopia, Somalia, and northern Kenya
• Melhania lisae – Madagascar
• Melhania magnifolia <small>Blatt. & Hallb.</small> – northwestern India
• Melhania mananarensis <small>Arènes</small> – Madagascar
• Melhania melanoxylon – northern Saint Helena
• Melhania menafe <small>Arènes</small> – Madagascar
• Melhania minutissima <small>Hochr.</small> – Madagascar
• Melhania muricata <small>Balf.f.</small> – northeastern Kenya, Somalia, Socotra, and southern Arabian Peninsula
• Melhania oblongifolia <small>F.Muell.</small> – Australia and southeastern New Guinea
• Melhania orbicularidentata <small>Arènes</small> – Madagascar
• Melhania ovata <small>(Cav.) Spreng.</small> – Cape Verde and northern tropical Africa (Mauritania to Tanzania), Arabian Peninsula, southern Pakistan, and southern India
• Melhania parviflora <small>Chiov.</small> – Ethiopia to Tanzania
• Melhania perrieri <small>Hochr.</small> – Madagascar
• Melhania phillipsiae <small>Baker f.</small> – Niger to Sudan and Kenya, Arabian Peninsula
• Melhania poissonii <small>Arènes</small> – Madagascar
• Melhania polygama <small>I.Verd.</small> – Kwazulu Natal
• Melhania polyneura <small>K.Schum.</small> – northwestern Tanzania
• Melhania praemorsa <small>Dorr</small> – Ethiopia, Somalia, and Northern Kenya
• Melhania prostrata <small>Burch.</small> – Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, and South Africa
• Melhania quercifolia <small>Thulin</small> – Central and southern Somalia
• Melhania randii <small>Baker f.</small> – southwestern Tanzania to Eswatini
• Melhania rehmannii <small>Szyszył.</small> – Mozambique to Namibia and South Africa
• Melhania rotundata <small>Hochst. ex Mast.</small> – Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, and northeastern Tanzania
• Melhania sidoides <small>(Wight & Arn.) Noltie</small> India (Tamil Nadu)
• Melhania somalensis <small>Baker f.</small> – southeastern Ethiopia
• Melhania spathulata <small>Arènes</small> – Madagascar
• Melhania steudneri <small>Schweinf.</small> – Northeastern tropical Africa (Sudan to Somalia)
• Melhania stipulosa <small>J.R.I.Wood</small> – Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti, Yemen, and Saudi Arabia
• Melhania substricta <small>Dorr</small> – Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Yemen
• Melhania suluensis <small>Gerstner</small> – South Africa (Mpumalunga and Kwazulu Natal) and Eswatini
• Melhania transvaalensis <small>Szyszył.</small> – South Africa (Northern Province)
• Melhania tulearensis <small>Arènes</small> – Madagascar
• Melhania velutina <small>Forssk.</small> – Angola to Malawi and Sudan, southwestern Arabian Peninsula
• Melhania virescens <small>K.Schum.</small> Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa (Northern Cape and northern Province)
• Melhania vohipalensis <small>Arènes</small> – Madagascar
• Melhania volleseniana <small>Dorr</small> – Ethiopia, Somalia, and Kenya
• Melhania zavattarii <small>Cufod.</small> – eastern and southern Ethiopia

Melhania decanthera <small>(Cav.) DC</small> and M. laurifolia <small>Bojer</small> are now in Dombeya (as D. decanthera and D. laurifolia).

A 2021 study subsumed Trochetiopsis, endemic to Saint Helena, and Paramelhania, native to Madagascar, into Melhania.

References