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Genus Centella in Family Apiaceae

In botanical taxonomy, a genus (plural genera) is a rank used to group closely related species within a family. In the hierarchy, genus sits below family and above species.

Genera are defined by shared morphological, anatomical, and genetic characteristics (for example, features of flowers, fruits, seeds, or leaves) that indicate a close evolutionary relationship among the species they contain.

Each genus can include one or more species. Examples include Rosa (roses) and Solanum (nightshades, including tomato and eggplant).

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Genus Description

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Centella L. belongs to Apiaceae and is placed in tribe Mackinlayeae (L miracrusta and Plunkett, 2023; Families and Genera of Vascular Plants, 2016). The genus contains about 20 species (WFO, 2024). It occurs from southern and tropical Africa to Madagascar, the Indian Ocean islands, and extends into southwestern Asia, Malesia, Australia, and New Zealand, occupying grassland, open woodland, seasonally wet ground, coastal dunes, and anthropogenic sites from near sea level to c. 2,000 m. Centella asiatica (L.) Urb. is the type species of the genus (Brioude, 1999).

Plants are perennial herbs, often stoloniferous, with slender, usually glabrous, creeping stems. Leaves are simple, basal or cauline, the blade membranous to slightly fleshy and typically peltate or cordate, entire to crenate, usually glabrous, with prominent venation; stipules are absent or minute. Inflorescences are axillary, capitate or reduced umbels subtended by small bracts; flowers are minute, 5-merous, with white to pink petals that are sometimes incurved at the apex, producing an umbellet-like head. The ovary is inferior, bicarpellate and bilocular, with a single ovule per locule; the style base is only slightly thickened at fruit. The fruit is a schizocarp breaking into two mericarps; mericarps are rounded to slightly dorsally compressed, with a low or absent dorsal vittae and inconspicuous ribs, usually smooth or faintly reticulate (Brioude, 1999; Magee et al., 2010).

Diversity is highest in southern Africa, especially the Cape Floristic Region, and there is pronounced regional endemism. Several species are confined to seeps or fynbos habitats, and many occur in disturbed or fire-prone landscapes. Pollination is poorly documented, but small flies are likely frequent visitors; fruit are dispersed by ants or surface run‑off when growing near water (Brioude, 1999). Chromosome counts most often report 2n=18, implying a base number x=9 (Brioude, 1999).

Taxonomically, Centella has been treated in a broad sense including Hydrocotyle by some authors, but modern morphological and phylogenetic work supports their separation (Magee et al., 2010; L miracrusta and Plunkett, 2023). The last comprehensive revision covered the Australian species as Centella (Magee et al., 2010). Regional floras consistently treat Centella as distinct (e.g., WFO, 2024; Kubitzki, 2016), and the genus remains secure within Mackinlayeae, though precise sectional delimitation has not been fully resolved.

The genus is best known in horticulture for C. asiatica, widely used as a low-growing, tolerably drought‑tolerant groundcover in warm temperate to tropical gardens; it can become weedy where climates favor establishment. Other species are occasionally cultivated in rock gardens and bog plantings (Brioude, 1999; Magee et al., 2010).

Conservation varies across range; many southern African taxa are localized and threatened by habitat loss, but the genus is not uniformly at risk. The main knowledge gaps concern phylogenetic resolution within Mackinlayeae, detailed species‑level diversity outside Africa, and quantitative threat assessments in most regions. Sources: POWO, 2024; WFO, 2024; Brioude, 1999; Magee et al., 2010; L miracrusta and Plunkett, 2023; Kubitzki, 2016.

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