Basella

Basella
Basella alba
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Kingdom: Plantae
Clade: Tracheophytes
Clade: Angiosperms
Clade: Eudicots
Order: Caryophyllales
Family: Basellaceae
Genus: Basella
L.
Type species
Basella alba
Synonyms[1]

Gandola Rumph. ex Raf.

The genus Basella is the type genus of the plant family Basellaceae. Basella contains five known species.[2] Three species are endemic to Madagascar, and one is endemic to southeastern Africa. The fifth is widespread across Southeast Asia, the Indian Subcontinent, and New Guinea.[1]

The genus name is derived from the south Indian name Basale which Hendrik Rheede recorded in Malabar as Basella in his Hortus Malabaricus. The name was utilitized by Linnaeus.[3][4]

  1. ^ a b "Basella L." Plants of the World Online. Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Retrieved 2024-08-06.
  2. ^ "Basella". The Plant List. Retrieved 2024-08-06.
  3. ^ Rheede, Hendrik van (1688). Hortus Malabaricus. Vol. 7. p. 45. Retrieved 2024-08-06.
  4. ^ Graham, John (1839). A catalogue of the plants growing in Bombay and its vicinity; spontaneous, cultivated or introduced, as far as they have been ascertained. p. 170.