| Coldenia | |
|---|---|
 | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Plantae |
| Clade: | Tracheophytes |
| Clade: | Angiosperms |
| Clade: | Eudicots |
| Clade: | Asterids |
| Order: | Boraginales |
| Family: | Coldeniaceae J.S.Mill. & Gottschling |
| Genus: | Coldenia L. |
| Species: | C. procumbens |
| Binomial name | |
| Coldenia procumbens | |
| Synonyms[1] | |
| |
Coldenia, named after C. Colden, is a genus of flowering plants in the family Coldeniaceae. It is the only genus in the family.[2] As of December 2025, the sole accepted species is Coldenia procumbens.[3]
Description
Coldenia procumbens is a herbaceous annual plant with a procumbent, mat-forming habit. The stems and leaves are densely hairy. The leaves are elliptic, oblong, or obovate, and are typically 0.5 to 3.3 cm long. The flowers are small and have a villous calyx and a white, deciduous corolla. The ovaries are glandular-pubescent. The anthers are 0.3 mm and the styles are 0.1-0.2 mm long. The four-lobed fruit is 4-5 mm in diameter and beaked.
Taxonomy
The genus was traditionally included in the borage family, Boraginaceae sensu lato.[4] It was assigned to the subfamily Ehretioideae, but molecular data revealed it to be more closely related to the genus Cordia, so that other authors placed in Cordioideae.[5] Subsequently, it was placed in its own family, Coldeniaceae, within the Boraginales order, by the Boraginales Working Group.[6] As of December 2025, this placement is accepted by World Flora Online,[3] but not by Plants of the World Online which retains it in a broadly circumscribed Boraginaceae.[7]
Distribution and habitat
Coldenia procumbens is a wide-ranging species in tropical and subtropical regions, being found throughout Africa, South and Southeast Asia, New Guinea, and Australia. It can be found in muddy areas near water.[7]
References
- Coldenia procumbens L. Plants of the World Online. Retrieved 24 July 2024.
- "Coldeniaceae J.S.Mill. & Gottschling". World Flora Online. Retrieved 2025-12-17.
- "Coldenia L." World Flora Online. Retrieved 2025-12-17.
- Encyclopedia of Life: Coldenia
- Gottschling, Marc; Miller, James S.; Weigend, Maximilian; Hilger, Hartmut H. (2005). "Congruence of a Phylogeny of Cordiaceae (Boraginales) Inferred from ITS1 Sequence Data with Morphology, Ecology, and Biogeography". Annals of the Missouri Botanical Garden. 92 (3): 425–437. JSTOR 40035480.
- BWG 2016.
- "Coldenia L.", Plants of the World Online, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, retrieved 2025-12-17
Bibliography
- Luebert, Federico; Cecchi, Lorenzo; Frohlich, Michael W.; Gottschling, Marc; Guilliams, C. Matt; Hasenstab-Lehman, Kristen E.; Hilger, Hartmut H.; Miller, James S.; Mittelbach, Moritz; Nazaire, Mare; Nepi, Massimo; Nocentini, Daniele; Ober, Dietrich; Olmstead, Richard G.; Selvi, Federico; Simpson, Michael G.; Sutorý, Karel; Valdés, Benito; Walden, Genevieve K.; Weigend, Maximilian (24 June 2016). "Boraginales Working Group: Familial classification of the Boraginales". Taxon. 65 (3): 502–522. doi:10.12705/653.5. hdl:2158/1062790.