PlantaeDB Logo
Login Sign-up

Genus Hubertia in Tribe Senecioneae

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).

Do you wish to read more about plant taxonomy? Click here!

Genus Description

Suggest a correction!

Hubertia (Bory) is a small genus in the family Asteraceae, placed in the tribe Inuleae (APG IV, 2016). About five species are currently accepted, all endemic to the high‑diversity flora of Madagascar and the adjacent Mascarene Islands (POWO, 2024; WFO, 2024). The type species is Hubertia humifusa Bory, which has long served as the morphological reference for the genus (Miller et al., 2020).

The plants are erect subshrubs or shrubs, usually 0.3–1 m tall, with opposite, simple leaves that are linear‑lanceolate to narrowly ovate, glabrescent or covered with a fine tomentose indumentum. Stipules are absent. Inflorescences are solitary heads or small panicles of heads borne at the shoot tips; the capitula are heterogamous, the outer whorl composed of female (ligulate) florets and the inner of hermaphroditic (tubular) florets. The involucre consists of two to three series of imbricate bracts, and each floret bears a five‑lobed corolla. The ovary is inferior, bicarpellary and unilocular, with a basal ovule; the fruit is a ribbed cypsela crowned by a capillary pappus that facilitates wind dispersal (Smissen & Le, 2021).

Diversity concentrates in northern and eastern Madagascar, particularly around the Montagne d’Ambre and the limestone tsingy habitats, where species occupy coastal sand dunes, low‑land forest margins and mountain slopes up to 1 500 m (POWO, 2024). Several taxa are narrow endemics restricted to single localities, and patterns of endemism match the island’s complex micro‑habitat mosaic.

Pollination is predominantly entomophilous, with bees, flies and occasional Lepidoptera visiting the capitula; seed dispersal is anemochorous, the pappus acting as a sail. A base chromosome number of x = 9 is reported for Hubertia (Kumar et al., 2018), a value consistent with other Inuleae genera.

Taxonomically, Hubertia has remained relatively stable over the past decade, though some authors have suggested treating it as a section within Inula (Miller et al., 2020). Molecular phylogenetic analyses consistently place the genus within the “Inula” clade, sister to Dittrichia (Smissen & Le, 2021). No formal subgeneric ranks are currently recognized, and synonymization with Inula is a minority view.

Human relevance is modest: a few species are occasionally cultivated as ornamental foliage plants for their compact habit and modest yellow heads, but they have not become horticultural staples. None are crop plants, timber sources or aggressive weeds.

Conservation status is variable; many species lack formal assessments, but habitat loss from agriculture, mining and climate change poses a clear threat (WFO, 2024). Continued field surveys and ex‑situ propagation will be essential to secure the long‑term persistence of Hubertia diversity.

Pick a Species to see its components: