Ctenodon minimus
Ctenodon minimus is a small woody-based plant in the legume family, Fabaceae. It is native from southern Mexico through tropical America and has been introduced to Queensland, Australia. Much of the botanical literature describes it under the older name Aeschynomene brasiliana. Kew now accepts Ctenodon minimus and places Ctenodon brasilianus in its synonymy.[1]
Appearance
The Goiás flora describes a sprawling subshrub with hairy, sticky branches. Leaves are divided into ten to eighteen leaflets, usually widest towards their rounded tips. The yellow flowers are about eight to ten millimetres long. Fruits are short pods divided into one to four segments.[2]
The authors distinguish it from Aeschynomene viscidula by its generally more numerous leaflets, smaller flowers and smaller fruit segments.[2]
Habitat
In Goiás, the species was recorded in open Cerrado, forest margins, damp grasslands and disturbed places such as roadsides and fields. Flowering and fruiting collections occurred throughout the year in that regional study.[2] Kew places the species mainly in the seasonally dry tropical biome.[1]
Why the name changed
The accepted combination Ctenodon minimus was published by Jacek Wajer and David Mabberley on 9 July 2024. Its underlying name is Cassia minima, published by Thomas Martyn in 1796.[3]
Mabberley and Wajer's study examined the neglected nomenclatural significance of Martyn's expanded edition of Miller's gardening dictionary, including the publication dates of its separate parts. The new Ctenodon combination was one outcome of that historical investigation.[4]
The change concerns the botanical name; it does not mean that the plant itself was discovered in 2024.[3]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Ctenodon minimus (Martyn) Wajer & Mabb. Plants of the World Online. Accessed 9 October 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Antunes, L. L. C. and Silva, M. J. (2018). Aeschynomene (Fabacaeae, Papilionoideae) no estado de Goiás, Brasil. Rodriguésia 69(4); account 2, doi:10.1590/2175-7860201869444. Accessed 9 October 2026.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 International Plant Names Index. Ctenodon minimus (Martyn) Wajer & Mabb.; publication and basionym record. Accessed 9 October 2026.
- ↑ Mabberley, D. J. and Wajer, J. (2024). Notes on the Latin names of some gayfeathers and the further New World significance of Thomas Martyn’s edition (1795–1807) of Philip Miller’s Gardeners Dictionary. Journal of the Botanical Research Institute of Texas 18(1), 95–104, doi:10.17348/jbrit.v18.i1.1341. Accessed 9 October 2026.