Stenandrium


Stenandrium is a genus of flowering plants, commonly known as shaggytuft, in the family Acanthaceae, with 50 species of perennial herbs ranging from the southern United States to northern Argentina and central Chile.

History

When Carl Linnaeus published the first classification of plants using binomial nomenclature in 1753, he included five species of North American flowers under the genus Gerardia. By 1810, botanists had realized that one of these species, G. tuberosa, was distinctly different from the other four, but disagreed upon the proper resolution. It would remain controversial until the 1950's, when Stenandrium was selected as the official name of the genus including Gerardia tuberosa, while the opposing genus in Orobanchaceae was formally typified under the name Agalinis.

Species

50 species are accepted.