Grangea Adans., Fam. Pl.

Beentje, Henk & Lachenaud, Olivier, 2020, The inclusion of Akeassia in Grangea (Asteraceae) and description of a new species from Gabon: Grangea ogoouensis, Candollea 75 (2), pp. 311-319 : 314

Grangea Adans., Fam. Pl. 2: 121. 1763.

Type: Grangea maderaspatana (L.) Desf. (≡ Artemisia maderaspatana L .)

= Pyrarda Cass. in Cuvier, Dict. Sci. Nat., ed. 2, 41: 120. 1826. ≡ Grangea sect. Pyrarda (Cass.) DC., Prodr. 5: 373. 1836.

Type: Pyrarda ceruanoides (Cass.) Cass. (≡ Grangea ceruanoides Cass. ).

= Microtrichia DC., Prodr. 5: 366. 1836.

Type: Microtrichia perrottetii DC. (= Grangea ceruanoides Cass. ).

= Akeassia J.-P. Lebrun & Stork in Candollea 48: 332. 1993, syn. nov.

Type: Akeassia grangeoides J.-P. Lebrun & Stork (≡ Grangea grangeoides (J.-P. Lebrun & Stork) Beentje & O. Lachenaud).

Herbs, annual or perennial, often prostrate. Leaves alternate, entire to pinnatifid. Capitula terminal or leaf-opposed, solitary or laxly corymbose, globose, heterogamous, disciform; phyllaries 1–3-seriate, subequal, the inner with membranous margins; receptacle hemispheric or conical, epaleate. Florets dimorphic; outer florets in 1-several rows, female, narrowly tubular, 2–4-dentate; central florets many, hermaphrodite, 4–5-lobed; anther bases obtuse; style-branches with short triangular appendages. Achenes slightly compressed, sub-cylindrical or ellipsoid, pubescent; pappus of free bristles, basally connate scaly bristles, a coroniform ring, or rarely absent.

Distribution. – A paleotropical genus with ten species, of which six restricted to subsaharan Africa, three to Madagascar, and one ( G. maderaspatana ) occurring widely in Africa, Madagascar and tropical Asia.

Notes. – The generic type of Grangea is another source of confusion. Although ADANSON (1763), when describing the genus Grangea , did not mention any species, he based it on the same source (“Absinthium. Pluk. t. 257. f. 3”) as Artemisia maderaspatana L. ( LINNAEUS, 1753: 849), i.e. PLUKENET (1691: tab. 1, fig. 2, 1696: 2, 1705: 3). The generic type is therefore Grangea maderaspatana (L.) Desf., a combination first published by DESFONTAINES (1804).