PlantaeDB Logo
Login Sign-up

Genus Mansonia in Family Malvaceae

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!

Mansonia (J.R.Drumm.) is a small genus in the family Malvaceae (subfamily Sterculioideae), including approximately five species of evergreen trees native to tropical South and Southeast Asia. The type species, designated by subsequent authors, is M. altissima A.Chev., a timber tree occurring in lowland rainforest and freshwater swamp forest across West and Central Africa; widely cultivated tropical introductions include M. gagei J.Drumm. and M. wallichii J.Drumm. in South and Southeast Asia. The genus is distinguished by its tree habit; leaves that are simple, often leathery and elliptic to oblong, usually entire or shallowly dentate, with dense peltate scales on the undersurface; stipules that are conspicuous but early deciduous; inflorescences that are paniculate or spike-like, axillary or subterminal, bearing unisexual or polygamous flowers; floral parts in fives; a distinct calyx and corolla; and fruits that are woody capsules splitting into five valves, with flattened seeds bearing an apical wing. Distribution centers include West and Central Africa, with diversity in the Congo Basin and West Africa, and secondary representation in Southeast Asia; species occupy lowland tropical forest up to middle elevations, often in wet locales (gallery forest, swamp forest). Pollination and dispersal ecology are poorly documented; wind appears plausible for the winged fruits, whereas vertebrate dispersal has been inferred in some forest tree species, though specific reports are limited. In Mansonia s.l., base chromosome numbers have not been widely reported or substantiated. Recent treatments recognize the core taxa listed above and place them within Sterculioideae rather than separate families; if synonymizations involving Burretiodendron have been proposed in some molecular-phylogenetic frameworks, those transfers remain contentious and not widely adopted in major checklists (WFO, 2024; POWO, 2024; Nyando et al., 2020; etc.), and any such alternative treatment should be considered provisional. The timber of M. altissima is valued for construction and furniture in parts of Africa and is internationally traded as “mansonia”; M. gagei and M. wallichii are used locally for timber in Southeast Asia, and the genus is occasionally cultivated as an ornamental shade tree, with some species considered invasive in the introduced tropics. Conservation status is unevenly assessed; M. altissima appears secure in protected areas but is susceptible to habitat loss and selective harvesting, whereas many Asian taxa are insufficiently monitored; research gaps include population demography and seedling ecology across the range. Continued integration of updated phylogenies and regional floras will refine species limits and improve conservation prioritization.

Pick a Species to see its components: