Cuphocarpus
Cuphocarpus
Genus of flowering plants
Cuphocarpus is an obsolete genus of flowering plants in the family Araliaceae. Mabberley (2008) treated it as a synonym of Polyscias,[1] but other authors still recognized it at that time. In 2010, in a phylogenetic analysis of DNA sequences, it was shown that Cuphocarpus was biphyletic and embedded in the large genus Polyscias.[2] In an accompanying paper, Polyscias was divided into 11 subgenera, with seven species left incertae sedis.[3]
Since Cuphocarpus is no longer an accepted genus, its species will be referred to herein by their names in Polyscias. Polyscias aculeata is the type species for Cuphocarpus. [4] It is now the sole species in Polyscias subgenus Cuphocarpus. Four other species, formerly in Cuphocarpus, are now in Polyscias subgenus Maralia.[3] All species that have ever been placed in Cuphocarpus are endemic to Madagascar.[5]
Polyscias inermis has been recognized by some authors, but others have regarded it as conspecific with Polyscias aculeata.[3] Polyscias aculeata (sensu lato) is indigenous to the coastal forest of eastern Madagascar. Polyscias briquetiana, Polyscias humbertiana, Polyscias leandriana, and Polyscias compacta (= Cuphocarpus commersonii) are montane species of the Madagascan interior. They were transferred from Cuphocarpus to Polyscias subgenus Maralia in 2010.[3]
Recognizing six species, Frodin and Govaerts (2003) described Cuphocarpus as "shrubs or trees, closely related to Polyscias, but fruits 1-seeded; these latter are moreover surmounted by the persistent calyptroid corolla". René Viguier thought that they were sometimes parthenocarpous.[6]