Vicoa
Vicoa is a genus of flowering plants belonging to elecampane tribe within the Asteraceae. It is found in parts of Africa and stretching across Asia to Indochina. It was described by Alexandre Henri Gabriel de Cassini in 1829, but the genus was later absorbed into the Pentanema genus until molecular analysis in 2018 determined it was a separate genus.
Description
They are annual or perennial herbs, with simple, or entire leaves. The leaves are arranged alternate, with pinnately veining and they are mostly amplexicaule at the base.They have flowers which have solitary, radiate heads, which are either axillary or leaf opposed. They have a peduncle, and involucral bracts which are inbricate in several rows.
The achenes are subterete with a pappus of unequal bristles.
Known species
There are about 14 accepted species;Some species are still to be accepted, such as Vicoa gokhalei from India.
Taxonomy
The genus name of Vicoa is in honour of Giambattista Vico, an Italian philosopher, rhetorician, historian, and jurist during the Italian Enlightenment. It was first described and published in Ann. Sci. Nat. Vol.17 on page 418 in 1829.It was then absorbed into the genus of Pentanema, until in 2018, the Vicoa genus was re-established due to molecular analysis of the Pentanema genus.