Myoxanthus Poepp. & Endl.

Abstract

The genus Myoxanthus was created by Eduard Poeppig and Stephan Endlicher in 1836 when they described M. monophyllus on the basis of a plant collected by Poeppig during his journey to South America, in the region of Huánuco, Peru. Since then, the genus have had a rather complex taxonomic history. It was independently recognized by Gustav Karl Wilhelm Hermann Karsten, who described the genus Duboisia in 1847 for a Venezuelan plant collected by H. Wagener (then renamed Duboisia-Reymondia to avoid homonymy with Duboisia in the Solanaceae, 1810); and by Joâo Barbosa Rodriguez, who created in 1882 Chaetocephala for two Brazilian species, one of which previously described in the genus Restrepia Kunth. However, soon the species were transferred to the inclusive genus Pleurothallis R.Br. by J. Lindley (1836), H. G. Reichenbach (1852) and C. A. Cogniaux (1896) respectively. After a century since the last attempt by J. Barbosa to recognize the genus, and more than 30 species (of the actual Myoxanthus) already described under Pleurothallis, Carlyle A. Luer reestablished the genus in 1982 when he produced the first taxonomic treatment of the genus. A decade later, Luer (1992) publish the monographic revision of the genus, creating three subgenera, Myoxanthus subgen. Myoxanthus (with sections Antennella Luer, Myoxanthus, and Scandentia Luer), subgen. Satyria, and subgen. Silenia.